Nicaragua Cancels Controversial Canal Concession After Decade of Protests

Nicaragua's Congress has finally canceled a controversial canal concession granted to a Chinese businessman, a move that critics say will protect the environment and rural communities.

After nearly a decade of protests and delays, Nicaragua's Congress has finally canceled a controversial canal concession granted to a Chinese businessman that critics said endangered the environment and threatened to displace rural communities.

Despite a symbolic "groundbreaking" in 2014, no work was done on the canal that was to link Nicaragua's Atlantic and Pacific coasts. At one point, crews broke ground on access roads near the canal, but digging the waterway never started.

The proposed $50 billion, 172-mile (278-kilometer) canal across this Central American nation was long viewed as a joke that later turned deadly serious. The canal and its potential effect on the environment became a symbol of the odd and arbitrary nature of President Daniel Ortega's increasingly repressive regime.

Ortega's government claimed the canal would create tens of thousands of jobs and stimulate the poor Central American nation's economy. However, critics argued that it posed serious environmental risks, would displace thousands of families in the countryside, and was financially unfeasible.

The canal concession was granted to the Hong Kong-based company HK Nicaragua Canal Development Investment Co. Limited, owned by Chinese businessman Wang Jing. Critics said that the deal was shrouded in secrecy and that it gave Wang Jing too much power over Nicaraguan land and resources.

In 2019, a Nicaraguan judge sentenced three farmers' leaders who participated in the protests to prison for 216 years, 210 years, and 159 years. They were accused of promoting a "failed coup" against the government. Nicaraguan law caps prison time actually served at 30 years.

The cancelation of the canal concession is a victory for environmentalists and human rights activists who have been fighting against the project for years. It is also a sign that Ortega's grip on power is weakening.

In recent months, Ortega has faced growing international condemnation for his crackdown on dissent and his government's human rights abuses. The United States and the European Union have imposed sanctions on Ortega and his inner circle, and the Organization of American States has called for his resignation.

Ortega has been in power in Nicaragua since 2007. He was re-elected in 2011 and 2016 in elections that were widely criticized as fraudulent. Ortega's government has been accused of corruption, human rights abuses, and suppression of freedom of speech.