| To cigar smokers, Nicaragua is already | | | | from 1912 to 1933. Left-wing guerilla Augusto |
| legendary. Through regime change, social | | | | Sandino led an effort to expel them, which |
| upheaval, and revolution, this Latin American | | | | was partially successful; but Anastasio |
| nation has produced some of the world's | | | | Somoza Garcia, a conservative, later secretly |
| finest tobacco. And since the post-1959 | | | | ordered his assassination, putting an end to |
| "cigar diaspora"-when many of Cuba's great | | | | a brief left-and-right coalition government. |
| cigar makers fled the country to seek more | | | | The Somozas ruled until 1979, when a party |
| propitious conditions than those they | | | | named after that dead guerilla-the FSLN, or |
| expected to find under Castro-it's produced | | | | Sandinista party-ousted them from power. The |
| many of the world's finest cigars, too. | | | | wheel turns again. And again: during the |
| | | | '80s, the country was torn apart by war |
| Since 1959, Nicaragua has been a cigar | | | | between the right-wing, US-backed Contras and |
| powerhouse, producing some of the | | | | the left-wing, ruling Sandinistas (who, on |
| highest-ranked and best-selling premium | | | | the good side, reduced the country's |
| cigars in the world: CAO, Perdomo, Padron, | | | | widespread illiteracy by a stunning forty |
| Don Pepin Garcia and Drew Estate among many | | | | percent within five months, but on the bad |
| others. It competes even with the wares of | | | | side, committed human rights violations |
| the Dominican Republic and Cuba, currently | | | | during the civil war). |
| the cigar world's reigning superpowers. But | | | | |
| there's a lot more to this country than just | | | | The Sandinistas, incidentally, almost |
| great smokes: from the marvelous ancient | | | | destroyed the country's preeminence among |
| footprints of Acahualinca to the fact that it | | | | cigar-tobacco growers. In trying to put the |
| was the first Latin American nation to elect | | | | desperately-poor, and politically encircled, |
| a woman President, Nicaragua has a history | | | | nation on a more secure economic footing, the |
| worth knowing about-and one that may impact | | | | Sandinistas ordered tobacco farmers to switch |
| its future as a cigar lover's capital. | | | | to cultivating cigarette tobacco. (This was |
| | | | before the "cigar boom" of the 1990s; many |
| Roughly the size of New York, the country is | | | | observers expected the market for cigars to |
| rich in natural resources-so much so that | | | | continue to dwindle.) Wherever a person may |
| nearly twenty percent of its territory is | | | | come down politically, cigar smokers can |
| taken up by one or another | | | | agree that this was a mistake! |
| officially-designated nature preserve. | | | | |
| Predictably, this fertile and beautiful | | | | Both sides in the nation's long culture war |
| country has been the subject of frequent | | | | were heavily hit in 1998 by Hurricane Mitch, |
| political power struggles: first between the | | | | one of many natural disasters to wreak havoc |
| various Spanish Conquistadores and the | | | | on this beleaguered country. After decades of |
| indigenous population, which has had a | | | | civil war had handicapped its economy and |
| presence in the area for at least six | | | | wrecked much of its infrastructure, this |
| thousand years and was nearly wiped out by | | | | cataclysmic hurricane did away with nearly |
| 1529. Nicaragua was later annexed by the | | | | seventy percent of the infrastructure still |
| Mexican Empire, finally achieving | | | | standing at the time. |
| independence in 1838; since then, rival | | | | |
| conservative and liberal factions have fought | | | | Under the circumstances, it's amazing that |
| each other for control of the country's | | | | Nicaragua continues to enjoy the regional |
| destiny. There was civil war during the 1840s | | | | importance that it does-but sometimes amazing |
| and '50s, during which an American pretender, | | | | things happen. Nicaragua makes three hundred |
| William Walker, briefly declared himself the | | | | million in exports every year (mostly |
| country's leader after double-crossing the | | | | agricultural), boasts one of the |
| Liberals who had recruited him to fight in | | | | best-regarded rums in Latin America (Flor de |
| the war. (Several Latin American countries' | | | | Cana), enjoys a flourishing tourism industry |
| armies united to chase him out of the country | | | | and, of course, makes some truly heavenly |
| the following year, in 1856.) | | | | tobacco. Though it's considered a developing |
| | | | nation, it did recently earn a ranking from |
| This pattern-conservative-vs.-liberal | | | | the World Bank as the sixty-second best place |
| infighting, with occasional interference from | | | | to start a new business-the |
| the nearest world power-continued through the | | | | highest-performing Central American country |
| twentieth century. A US-backed Conservative | | | | in this particular ranking, except for |
| regime ruled for decades early in the | | | | Panama. |
| century, with Marines occupying the country | | | | |