In
Nicaragua, ALBA became an everyday reality for millions of people. Though
critics argue it’s impossible to account for the estimated $2.6 billion in ALBA
aid that entered Sandinista coffers over the past six years, that money did
allow the government to stabilize the country’s desperate energy sector by
increasing power production and putting an end to daily blackouts. ALBA also
provided electricity subsidies for low-consumption households, transportation
subsidies for the working poor, and fellowships for university students. It
funded road construction through dust-clouded barrios, provided roofing
materials for leaky shanties, monthly cash handouts for thousands of government
employees, and other assorted eleemosynary programs for the poor and not-so-poor.
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