Chicano/a-Latino/a Studies
Intersections Between Health and Politics: the Public Healthcare System in Post-Revolutionary Nicaragua
Rico Chenyek ('11); Héctor M. Cruz Feliciano*; Mentor: Gilda Ochoa
*Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Nicaragua (UNAN), Managua, Nicaragua
Abstract: In 1979, the Sandinista National
Liberation Front (FSLN) overthrew the corrupt,
43-year Somoza dynasty. During the decade
following this triumph, Nicaragua experienced its
greatest advancement in healthcare, developing a
completely public, nationalized healthcare system
that gained international recognition for
eliminating polio and decreasing the infant
mortality rate and whooping cough, measles and
rubella. Three neoliberal governments that
maintained privatized healthcare followed this
decade. With the 2007 return of president of the
Revolution, Daniel Ortega, I evaluate his health
policy reform and return to public healthcare
through interviews with diverse healthcare
providers and observations primarily in a
comprehensive primary care health center in
Nicaragua’s capital, Managua. I explore the U.S.’
unforgettable role in the terrorizing counterrevolution
of the 1980s and the maintained
neoliberal domination in Nicaragua, the second
poorest nation in the Americas (after Haiti), and
the implications on preventing Nicaragua’s
healthcare system from thriving at its full
potential.
Funding provided by The Fletcher Jones Foundation