El Almendro
El Almendro is a rural municipality in the Río San Juan department of Nicaragua. It sits at about 11.683°N, 84.700°W and covers around 390 square miles (1,009 square kilometers). In 2005, the municipality had about 13,363 residents, with 2,792 living in the urban area. The name means “The Almond Tree.”
Tradition says El Almendro was founded in 1892 by rubber tree explorers and Ipecacuanha (raicilla) growers. Ipecacuanha was once important to the town, and El Almendro was one of the world’s large rubber exporters, though production later declined. By the late 1970s, farming became the main activity, but today output is less than 10% of what it once was, according to local resident José Benito Acevedo.
In the 1970s, residents Julio Barrios, Federico Brenes, Ángela Acevedo, Raúl Rocha, Norma Mejía, and Cándido Mejía (who died) traveled to the city of San Miguelito to get a survey. It took about four years to obtain official incorporation as a municipality.
In El Almendro’s park there is a bust of priest Lucinio Martínez, founder of ASODEAL (The El Almendro Development Society), which supports local projects. Father Lucinio is a well-known figure in the community.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 13:22 (CET).