'Favores, Ayuda y Robo': Views of Continuity in Systemic Change in Rural Nicaragua

Abstract

While a succession of governments has poured its
contrasting ideologies and programs over the rural people in
Nicaragua, this article looks at how villagers in Carazo chal?
lenged the objectives and categories of the governments of the
day in their everyday practices and discourses. Villagers eval?
uated official development policies as they were applied locally,
in their own terms of favores (in the sense of favours), ayuda (in
the sense of help but also in the material sense of gift) and robo
(in the sense of theft, but also fraud and deception). With these
three terms they appraised relationships of power and control
with agents of the government and of NGOs with the same moral
frames with which they assessed other more direct personal
relationships of reciprocity, dependency and exploitation. They
thus gave their own reading of the challenges in their daily lives
brought about by systemic transformations and questioned the
promises of a better life.