Others present at the negotiations, however, stated that the major reason for the failure is that Antonio Lacayo insists on being the candidate for the center and will not consider any other possibility. May 24th is the last date that a political party or coalition has to register its electoral candidates. Sergio Ramirez will be, to the surprise of no one, the presidential candidate of that party, accompanied by Dr. Leonel Arguello, Jr. as his vice-presidential candidate. Alfredo Cesar and Roberto Teran are the candidates for the revived UNO party. At this point, the success of the coming elections in Nicaragua will not be measured, as some might think, by the success of the army in protecting public safety by controlling the armed bands in the north- central part of Nicaragua, but possibly more on the ability of the average Nicaraguan to make sense out of a election ballot with 42 or more presidential candidates listed on it.
Rainy season enters with a fury.
Once again, the onset of the rainy season in Managua has made it more than clear that the city does not have enough drainage capacity to avoid major flooding this rainy season. Damage varied from complete flooding of houses in the Walter Ferreti neighborhood to the death of a 10 year old in Ciudad Sandino when a dirt wall behind his house gave way. As usual, streets of Managua flooded and thousands of roofs leaked. Nicaraguans are a little nervous about the announcements over the last few weeks that this rainy season will bring at least 5 hurricanes to Nicaraguan shores. That problem, however, is not so terrifying for the majority of farmers, who instead are faced with the lack of credit for what is the official beginning of the 1996-1997 agricultural season.