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children, running out of their homes to play in the streets.

This kind of tranquility is not something you'd see in the capital cities of El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala or Belize, because over the past decade, Central America has been engulfed by bloodshed, becoming one of the most dangerous regions in the world.

Nicaragua, the poorest of the bunch and with just as bloody a history, is one of the safest countries in the hemisphere.

While Nicaragua's neighbors have embraced so-called "mano dura" or iron fist policies, Nicaragua has taken a softer approach.

The Nicaraguan police, for example, pacified the Dimitrov neighborhood by having the community patrol itself and by having police officers mediate talks between gang members often after soccer games.

El Salvador and Honduras legislated "mano dura" policies against youth crimes. Guatemala and Belize followed suit but in a more ad-hoc manner.

right now Nicaragua has just 70 juveniles in jail.

It's a system that was developed in the '70s, when Nicaraguans were preparing for war against the dictatorship

Some were instructed to develop emergency treatment centers at their homes, while others were given small, but important tasks like collecting water.

Cuadra and other human rights groups have expressed concern that the police and even the community volunteers have begun to take on those security roles again.

Officials estimate that between 30,000 and 120,000 people will be displaced in total by the canal.

They say that the planned route will displace the entire communities of Bangkukuk Taik, Monkey Point and Wiringay, while most other local communities will be indirectly affected by canal support projects.

“They keep saying that we don’t need a legal advisor,” Allen Claire-Duncan, the leader of the Monkey Point Kriol community, told Mongabay. “Many people do not know how to read or write, and if the [government negotiators] come to the community they will speak in terms that the people don’t understand.

the Nicaraguan government must obtain consent from the nine community leaders as well as the 18 members of the Rama-Kriol Territorial Government (GTR-K) before construction can begin.

Community leaders are emphatic about their desire not to sign over their lands, but some leaders say they have been pressured into signing documents of an uncertain nature

But in May, government officials transferred 16 members of the GTR-K to Managua where they signed more papers. Shortly after the meeting, Nicaraguan state media reported that the indigenous territories had officially granted consent for the canal

Corporate and governmental secrecy have prompted concern from human rights organizations, environmental groups and the U.S. Embassy in Nicaragua.

The private sector has a diverse role to play in early warning, including developing early warning capabilities in their own organizations. The private sector is also essential as they are usually better equipped to implement ICT-based solutions. The private sector has a large untapped potential to help provide skilled services in the form of technical manpower, know-how, or donations of goods or services (in-kind and cash), especially for the communication, dissemination and response elements of early warning.

Considered the most traditional electronic media used for disaster warning, radio and television have a valid use. The effectiveness of these two media is high because even in developing countries and rural environments where the tele-density is relatively low, they can be used to spread a warning quickly to a broad population.

Telephones can play an important role in warning communities about the impending danger of a disaster.

The role Internet, email and instant messages can play in disaster warning entirely depends on their penetration within a community and usage by professionals such as first responders, coordinating bodies, etc.

American troops here cannot fire except in self-defense, and they are barred from responding with force even if Honduran or Drug Enforcement Administration agents are in danger. Within these prohibitions, the military marshals personnel, helicopters, surveillance airplanes and logistical support that Honduras and even the State Department and D.E.A. cannot.

Nonetheless, there were occasional reports of police brutality, corruption, excessive force, discrimination against persons on basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, and allegations of abuse by prison guards.

Prison conditions were very poor. Her Majesty's Prison, the country's only prison, was overcrowded, did not have toilet facilities, and slop pails were used in all 122 cells

Prisoners and detainees had reasonable access to visitors, were permitted religious observances, and had reasonable access to complaint mechanisms and the ability to request inquiry into conditions.

Security forces consist of a police force, the small Antigua and Barbuda Defence Force, and the Office of National Drug Control Policy, which coordinates law enforcement and prosecutorial action to counter narcotics trafficking. The police force had approximately 750 officers.

The constitution provides that criminal defendants should receive a fair, open, and public trial, and an independent judiciary generally enforced this right. Trials are by jury. Defendants enjoy a presumption of innocence, have timely access to counsel, may confront or question witnesses, and have the right to appeal. In capital cases only, the government provides legal assistance at public expense to persons without the means to retain a private attorney

There were no reports of political prisoners or detainees

The constitution provides for freedom of speech and of the press, but the government respected these rights on a somewhat limited basis

There were no government restrictions on access to the Internet or reports that government monitored e-mail or Internet chat rooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful expression of views via the Internet, including by e-mail. There were 75 Internet users per 100 inhabitants, according to Internet World Statistics.

The constitution provides citizens with the right to change their government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice through periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of universal suffrage.

Members of the Organization of American States observer group reported that the elections were generally free and fair.

There were two women in the 19-seat House of Representatives and five women appointed to the 17-seat Senate. The governor general, the speaker of the House of Representatives, and the president of the Senate, all appointed positions, were women. There were two women in the cabinet.

The Freedom of Information Act gives citizens the statutory right to access official documents from public authorities and agencies, and it created a commissioner to oversee the process. In practice citizens found it difficult to obtain documents, possibly due to government funding constraints rather than obstruction.

The constitution prohibits discrimination based on race, sex, creed, language, or social status, and the government generally respected these prohibitions in practice.

The Directorate of Gender Affairs, part of the Ministry of Labor, Public Administration, and Empowerment, established and publicized a crisis hotline for victims and witnesses to sexual assault, and managed a sexual assault center that coordinates responses to sexual assault. When rape cases are reported to the police, a female police officer accompanies the victim for both questioning and medical examinations at the center. Once the doctor's report is completed, an investigation commences.

n situations where the victim did not know her assailant, the cases rarely came to trial.

Violence against women, including spousal abuse, was a problem. The law prohibits and provides penalties for domestic violence, but many women were reluctant to testify against their abusers.

Sexual harassment is illegal, but it was rarely prosecuted. According to the Labor Department, there was a high incidence of sexual harassment incurred by employees in both the private and public sectors. However, only approximately 20 cases were formally reported during the year; the small number was believed to result from concerns about retaliation.

Women in society enjoy the same rights as men under the law. However, economic conditions in rural areas tended to limit women to home and family, although some women worked as domestics, in agriculture, or in the large tourism sector. Despite these limitations, women were well represented in the private and public sectors. There was no legislation requiring equal pay for equal work, but women faced no restrictions involving ownership of property.

Citizenship is acquired by birth in the country, and all children were registered at birth

Child abuse remained a problem. The press reported regularly on the rape and sexual abuse of children.

Statutory rape is illegal; the minimum age for consensual sex is 14. Despite a maximum penalty of 10 years to life, authorities brought charges against few offenders, and those convicted did not serve long jail terms due to lack of witness cooperation

Homosexual acts for both sexes are illegal under indecency statues, and some male homosexual acts are also illegal under anal intercourse laws.

Some LGBT persons claimed that homophobia impairs the willingness of HIV-positive persons to obtain treatment; however, there were no reports of violence or discrimination directed toward persons with HIV/AIDS.

Workers have the right to associate freely and to form labor unions. Approximately 60 percent of workers in the formal sector belonged to a union. Unions were free to conduct their activities without government interference

Labor law prohibits retaliation against strikers, and the government effectively enforced this prohibition.

he constitution prohibits forced or compulsory labor, including by children.

The law stipulates a minimum working age of 16 years, which corresponds with the provisions of the Education Act. In addition persons under 18 years of age must have a medical clearance to work and may not work later than 10 p.m.

The minimum wage was EC$7.00 ($2.59) an hour for all categories of labor, which provided a barely adequate standard of living for a worker and family. In practice the great majority of workers earned substantially more than the minimum wage.

The law provides that workers are not required to work more than a 48-hour, six-day workweek, but in practice the standard workweek was 40 hours in five days

While not specifically provided for by law, in practice workers could leave a dangerous workplace situation without jeopardy to continued employment.

On the surface, it seems like the Nicaraguan government is doing quite a bit to fight the drug war and that Bluefields is a place of perdition. But reality is more complicated. Cocaine Trafficking Routes Through Nicaragua Source: United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime: "Transnational Organized Crime in Central America and the Caribbean" (September 2012) Credit: Alyson Hurt / NPR 'Cocaine Republics' Cocaine's Influence on Nicaragua's Miskito Coast Nicaragua — the largest country in Central America — has a lengthy coastline on the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. With its remote location, Bluefields is well placed to serve as a pit stop along the corridor where drugs travel from the South American producers to U.S. consumers. What's more, the cocaine moving through Nicaragua's territory represents a higher share of GDP than any other Central American country, which in the words of the U.N.'s Office on Drugs and Crime, should give traffickers greater leverage to both sow more corruption and foment violence.

In 2011, The Global Commission on Drugs, a high-profile panel of world leaders – including former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker — declared that the "global war on drugs has failed." And this September, the commission followed up with a report recommending policies that work, including some legalization and encouraging countries to try regulating instead of prohibiting some aspects of the drug trade.