Nicaragua puzzles over space plans amid socio-political turmoil

ABSTRACT

Speed read Government of Nicaragua approves plans for a Secretariat for Outer Space Meanwhile, science community denounces persecution and loss of university autonomy Government plays down COVID-19, but charges for tests to enter the country The Nicaraguan government has created a National Secretariat for Outer Space, Moon and other Celestial Bodies, to the astonishment of the country’s scientific community, besieged by budget cuts and ideological persecution. The government-funded secretariat “is a late ratification of international instruments, in a country that is barely in a position to pay for basic care in the health system,” Dora Maria Tellez, a former health minister, tells SciDev.Net. SciDev.Netreceived no responses to interview requests with legislators, or representatives from the Ministry of Health and the Nicaraguan Council for Science and Technology about the new space agency and national science policies.