Mulukuku is a town and a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

in the

North Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region The North Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region is one of two autonomous regions in Nicaragua. It was created by the Autonomy Statute of 7 September 1987. It covers an area of 33,106 km2 and has a population of 541,189 (2021 estimate). It is the l ...

Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the cou ...

. It was established as an asentamiento, or refugee community, during the early years of the war with the contra. People who lived in the remote rural areas and who were threatened by the

contras The Contras were the various U.S.-backed and funded right-wing rebel groups that were active from 1979 to 1990 in opposition to the Marxist Sandinista Junta of National Reconstruction Government in Nicaragua, which came to power in 1979 fol ...

, were brought to Mulukuku for safety. During the war a training school for the Nicaraguan army was located in the community. The community straddled the only road in the region that connected the Department of Matagalpa with Lisawe, Siuna, and eventually Puerto Cabezas. A large bridge crossing the Rio Tuma had been under construction and was nearly complete, when, in October 1988, Hurricane Joan struck Nicaragua. The bridge was destroyed and the community devastated. The national government committed to reconstruction and the community has flourished since that time. With the bridge complete, Mulukuku has become a regional commercial center. "Mulukukú" is a word in Miskito language that means Rivera de Sahinos. On February 20, 2020, José Benito López Méndez, 51, leader of ''Ciudadanos por la Libertad'' ("Citizens for Liberty," an opposition political party) was kidnapped and shot six times in Mulukuku.Kidnap and execute with six shots a politician opposed to President Daniel Ortega
El Mundo (Spain), 20 Feb 2020

References

{{coord, 13, 9, 1, N, 84, 58, 12, W, region:NI_type:city(5077), display=title Municipalities of the North Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region