Flor de Pochote

The fortress was build in the beginning of the 19th century during the liberal government of General Zelaya. The aim was to protect Masaya against conservative rebels with base in Granada.

The Zelaya government was rather strong and made many important reforms of legal and social character, and if he had held elections, he would probably have won. But he was a dictator, and the rich conservative Granada, and even the wealthy liberals from Leon, were not very pleased with him.

For a period the prison was closed and handed over to the boy scouts, but when the Somozas power was threatened in the ninety seventies, Coyotepe returned into a prison, and even a fortress again. During the insurrections in 1978 and 1979 Somoza used Coyotepe as a base to bomb the city of Masaya.

The revolutionary government used the building as prison for a short while, and then it was closed.

In 1990, the Violeta Chamorro government donated the fortress to the boy scouts. They have undertaken some restoration and now maintain the place open for visitors.