Welcome!

Hi, this is Bob Gumbrecht, associate professor of Social Science at CMC, and the leader of our CMC class trip to Nicaragua. The trip is part of a political science course called Current Political Issues. We will be traveling from Nov. 9 - 17.

The theme of the course is economic and political development. In particular, we are going to study the impact of neoliberalism and free trade, especially the impending arrival of CAFTA - the Central American Free Trade Agreement, negotiated between the countries of Central America, the Dominican Republic, and the United States. We want to find out if free trade agreements like this are in the best interests of the people of Nicaragua, 80% of whom live on less than $2 a day.

We will spend our days in Nicaragua talking with as many people we can, from all walks of life: young, old, urban, rural, wealthy, poor, liberal, conservative, etc.

I am excited to visit Nicaragua and visit with all these people and have them tell us their stories, tell us whether this plan is a good one for them.

As I write this, we are about a month away from departure, and are just beginning our study of the country. As the weeks pass, each student from the course will describe our activities and post his/her thoughts and observations. Thanks for reading - and check back often...

Bob