Lately Nicaragua has been in the news a lot and it hasn’t been good. The country seems to take one step forward and two steps backward. First, president Ortega has been trying to establish closer ties with Russia. He wants  to improve relations to the level that they were at when the Old Soviet Union existed. Most recently Ortega met with the Russian president Demitri Medédev in an effort to develop closed ties. Ortega also allowed four Russian battle ships to anchor off the coast of Nicaragua much to the displeasure of neighboring countries like Costa Rica. He has also aligned himself with Venezuela’s mercurial dictator Hugo Chavez, which doesn’t exactly help the country’s international image.

However, what has really hurt the country is the U.S. Suspending $175 million in aid because of alleged fraud in the recent municipal elections. Nicaragua is the second poorest country in the western hemisphere after Haiti.  The country certainly can’t afford to lose this much needed aid. Previously the European Union had suspended $32 million in aid for the same reason.

It seems that the country’s ruling party is more interested in staying in power than establishing a true democracy and now will pay the price. Unfortunately the country’s poor are the ones who really suffer and not its leaders.

For decades the country has been the victim of earthquakes, hurricanes and a whole string of unscrupulous and incompetent leaders. Now Ortega is in power for the second time and leading the country down the path of self destruction again.

Who would want to retire or in a place where political turmoil and subsequent instability have been the norm for decades. There was talk a few years ago about Nicaragua and Panama replacing Costa Rica as Central America’s prime retirement havens. Never! Given the events I just mentioned and the rocky road that will follow. Almost a half million Nicaraguans have fled Nicaragua’s batted economy to Costa Rica to find work. I don’t blame them because the average monthly income in Nicaragua is less than $100 dollars, if you can find work.

No doubt about it those who retire in Nicaragua can live more inexpensively than Costa Rica, but look at what they are getting for their money. Anyone in their right mind would be foolish to invest in such an unstable place.