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Nicaragua Labor Unrest
By 1990 labor unrest was rampant. Urban workers vied
with
their rural counterparts to protest deteriorating economic
conditions. The workers' protests, however, were soon
drowned out
by demands by the business class for government trade
subsidies,
preferential investment, and credit, particularly in the
historically dominant agricultural sector. Drought in
several
food-producing areas in 1990 decreased the amount of food
available, increased prices, and exacerbated already
severe
poverty. In addition, as many as 500,000 refugees returned
to
Nicaragua, including thousands of former Contras. They,
along
with thousands of former private- and public-sector
workers,
further swelled the ranks of the unemployed and
underemployed,
and increased the burden of grievances with which the new
government had to deal.
One of the most troublesome problems for the Chamorro
government was ongoing support for the Sandinista
revolutionary
ideals from a large segment of the population and high
expectations for government help to address the needy. The
Sandinista administration had permanently altered the
"psyche" of
the Nicaraguan poor. From inauguration day onward,
President
Chamorro was confronted by a strike-ready labor force
motivated
by pressing needs and a suspicious, foot-dragging private
sector.
Data as of December 1993
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