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| Central American University - UCA |
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Number 168 | Julio 1995 |
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Nicaragua
NICARAGUA BRIEFS
Envío team
ANONYMOUS TERRORISM
Several dynamite attacks were carried out against churches in León, Managua and Masaya during May. No organization or individual claimed authorship or linked the attacks to any cause or social or political demand.
In the same framework of social decomposition and ungovernability, anonymous phone calls warned of bombs supposedly placed in high schools, ministries, customs warehouses, etc., which led to the evacuation of these buildings. None of the bomb threats were genuine, and no organized group appears to be behind this "telephone terrorism."
FOUNT OF MANY COLORS
On May 24, Managua mayor Arnoldo Alemán inaugurated a gigantic fountain in the center of the Rubén Darío traffic rotary he built two years ago in Managua's "new center," near the ultra modern new cathedral. The tall, three step cement platform is 80 meters across and shoots 200 cubic meters of water into the air in 4 vertical cascades that can be seen from blocks away. The water falls into a huge pool surrounding the platform, which itself has 32 smaller vertical spouts. The whole spectacle is illuminated by 60 colored light reflectors. "We are obliged to recognize the work of the Mayor of Managua, said Cardinal Obando upon blessing the fountain.
The fountain is a real crowd pleaser. People risk life and limb dodging cars to get to the center of the rotary so they sit on the platform and enjoy the mist cooled air. In the evenings, when the lights come on, the rotary is surrounded by families watching the colors play on the geysers of water. Although it is hard to find a Managuan who is not bursting with pride at this new public work, all those with even a modicum of social consciousness are deeply troubled at the same time.
"I'd like to see a castle on every corner," commented one truck driver, "but think of the construction costs, the price of those motors, and the fuel needed to drive them all day. With so much unemployment in the cities, and so many families out in the countryside who only eat once a day and poorly at that, wouldn't it have been better to spend all that money on job generating projects and save the circus for later?"
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a monthly magazine of analysis on Central America