The 1979 Sandinista Revolution, which toppled the brutal dictatorship of Anastasio Somoza Debayle, launched Nicaragua into international attention. The U.S.-backed Contra counter-revolutionary war that ensued in the eighties left the country in ruins and partly led to the Sandinista government calling for elections to cease the hostilities. Since the politically tumultuous 1970s and 1980s, life has not been easy in Nicaragua. Due to the misguided neoliberal economic agreements signed with the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) - not to mention the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) - a majority of Nicaraguans find themselves without work, health care, education or other basic social services. Some regions of Nicaragua have been devastated in recent years by natural disasters, famine, and a severe recession in the global coffee industry. This has hit Nicaraguan campesinos especially hard. Despite the hardships they face, ordinary Nicaraguans have not given up hope and are resisting the neoliberal economic programs imposed upon them, offering alternative models centered on peoples needs, not on profits for the few.

Daniel Ortega, former leader in the Sandinista Liberation Front and current president of Nicaragua, promises to ease widespread poverty and achieve greater national independence from the U.S.; his method - to promote free trade and increase foreign investment in Nicaragua. Though his victory as a left-wing politician in November 2006 marked a transformative period in Nicaraguan history, what Ortega's presidency will do to secure greater social and economic justice in Nicaragua is controversial. Participants on this delegation will see firsthand the political changes taking place in Nicaragua; more importantly they will participate in movements establishing social justice at a grassroots level.

You will have the opportunity to live and work with Nicaraguan campesinos who have been in the forefront of the growing Fair Trade movement, which has allowed them to receive enough money for their crops to support themselves and their families. You will meet with women maquiladora workers and trade unionists who have fought for equality in the factories and struggled to organize unions in Managua's harsh sweatshop zones. You will hear the voices of members of civil society who were silenced during the negotiations of the Central American Free Trade Agreement and learn about the popular resistance against its ratification in the Nicaraguan congress. You will meet with students, environmentalists, and human rights activists organizing for a more just and equitable society. Now more than ever, it is important that the international community understands the failure of neoliberal economic policies in Nicaragua, their negative effects on ordinary people, and how developed nations like the U.S. are complicit.

Experience a country beyond the media images - the daily work on coffee farms, the history of the colonial town Granada, the natural beauty of the Masaya volcano. Here in the "land of lakes and volcanoes," get to know the locals to understand their part in the fair trade fight and the concerns of their daily lives.

Note: The activities of this trip can be physically straining. If you have any health concerns, please contact the program coordinator.

Please email Corina if you would like to recieve a sample itinerary for this delegation.