500 Córdobas

This note was issued the same year the Somoza regime collapsed — the Sandinista revolution formally concluded in July 1979, and the Banco Central found itself administering a currency whose higher denominations had been associated with a government that no longer existed. Rather than immediately replacing the series, the new administration allowed existing De La Rue stock to remain in circulation while transitional monetary policy was sorted out.

P#133 is the last denomination in the pre-revolutionary series. The 500 córdoba face value made it a significant note for everyday Nicaraguans during a period of acute economic disruption and supply shortages.