Nicaragua's Atlantic Coast: The 'Other' side of Nicaragua

Political humour emerges from the specific historical and cultural nuances of any country; Nicaragua is no exception to the rule. I have decided to write about the Atlantic side to contextualise my forthcoming post which will outline my own conclusions and analysis of political humour in Nicaragua as I prepare to move on to my next country, Argentina.

A summary of the Caribbean coast, the 'other'side of Nicaragua:

So since the day I got here, everyone has asked me 'sos de Bluefields' "are you from Bluefields?" or from the "Caribbean/Atlantic side" of Nicaragua. This was initially confusing until I actually met people from the Atlantic side of Nicaragua who look, talk, eat Jamaican food and sound almost exactly like me.

Nicaragua is divided into two parts: the Pacific side and the Atlantic side: The Pacific side was colonised by the Spanish and the Atlantic side was colonised by the British. Hence, on the Pacific side, they speak Spanish and on the Atlantic side they speak English..well sort of-They speak Jamaican English to be exact and most of the time its not actually Jamaican english, its Jamaican dialect. The blacks who migrated to the Atlantic side: Bluefields, Puerto Cabeza, Ramas, Corn Island, Monkey Point etc were from Jamaica and New Orleans.
While the Pacific side is 100 percent spanish speaking, and 96% mestizo--mostly catholic, the coast is a totally different world. The coast has an interesting mix of indigenous (Miskito), Black and Spanish--6 different ethnic groups and 4 different languages-- who are living NOT so happily together. While the Spanish practically anihalated the indigenous people on the Pacific side, the British decided to use the indigenous people (the ones that escaped the massacres)to implement colonisation. They did not directly colonise the Atlantic side, instead they gave the indigenous people arms to control the territory until 1894 when the Nicaragua military-with the support of the U.S government, invaded the coast. Needless to say, the divide and conquer methodology of the British during colonisation was the starting point of the division among the people living on the Atlantic side that exists today.

The conflicts between the two colonisers set the foundation for the power struggle between the Pacific side and the Atlantic side.
It is this power struggle that explains the political, economic and social inequality that exists between the two regions. For instance, although up to 60 percent of goods produced in Nicaragua comes from the Atlantic coast and the coast comprises 57% of the National territory, it is still the poorest and least developed part of Nicaragua. There is no running water/portable water on the Atlantic side, every house has a well, they have pit toilets instead of bathrooms inside the houses, it has the highest rate of unemployment and the highest percentage of drug abuse in the country. The fact that packages of Crack and Cocaine wash up on the shores of Bluefields and Corn Island almost every day explains the rampant drug abuse on the Atlantic side of Nicaragua.

Travel to the Atlantic side of the country is incredibly difficult (at least a day by bus and the highway is broken down) and expensive (about 100 U.S dollars roundtrip by plane from Managua to the coast). Perhaps the complete rejection of Caribbean roots and cultures as part of the Nicaraguan identity is personified by the fact that while bilingual education has been introduced on the Atlantic side so they all speak spanish, people on the pacific side don't learn english. Nicaragua does not officially recognise itself as a multilingual country. While it does seek to integrate the Atlantic side and it has granted the region a certain level of autonomy (which exists in theory but not in practice) the absolute neglect and lack of investment in the region that accompany the indiscriminate exploitation of the region's resources reflects an institutionalisation of the Nicaraguan identity as the Pacific identity. The power struggle plays out in all levels of society including the government with few people from the Atlantic coast in power. It is our hope that with some more time, and maybe a change in government that this will change.

For information of the Atlantic coast in english see the following links:
http://www.yorku.ca/cerlac/URACCAN/Coast.html)
http://www.cedehcanicaragua.com/)

Afterthought: Doesn't this sound like the U.S relationship with Puerto Rico and Mexico? hmmmm...