«The only thing they wanted and have wanted is to deprive the peasants of their properties.»This is how Medardo Mairena, leader of the peasant movement, recalls the year 2013, when for the first time they heard about the application of Law 840, known as the law of the great interoceanic canal by Nicaragua.
«Peasants have never been wrong. We always knew how to really define good and evil with everything they did to us in the 80s» Mairena points out, noting that Ortega used the law to deprive peasants of their lands, violating the right to private property.
On June 13, 2023, this regulation, with which Daniel Ortega hands over the sovereignty of Nicaragua, celebrated 10 years of having been approved. The Chinese Wang Jing, from the HKND Group company, is the dealer. His company would coordinate six subprojects: the canal, locks included, two ports, a free trade zone, tourist centers, an international airport and several highways.
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HKND received the management concession for 50 years, plus another 50 years, extendable if desired, in exchange for a payment of ten million dollars each year for the first decade, and the right to one percent of the equity of the “subprojects”. » which would rise to 99% at the end of the concession.
Mónica López Baltodano, in her book Ruta Mafiosa, agrees with the peasant leader and reveals that the negotiations on the interoceanic canal took place a year before the project was announced, in which exclusive rights were illegally and secretly handed over to the company wang jing
The research published by the Popol Na collective brings together data obtained in Hong Kong and the Netherlands. They detail that behind these negotiations there is a mafia, corrupt and predatory route that seeks to destroy the most basic rights of peasant and indigenous communities, Afro-descendants and all Nicaraguan citizens, the letter cites.
fight continues
The construction of the canal was never carried out, the companies that would come with the project only remained after the signing of a document between the dictator and the Chinese businessman. Ortega has declared in different appearances in state media that he continues his commitment to build the canal.
Mairena assures that the fight was not in vain, «My greatest satisfaction is that my brothers in struggle enjoy their restricted freedom, but they can be on their land with their family.»: From exile, he hopes to recover his properties and achieve justice.
