Caribbean & Central America - January 2015 (ISSN 1741-4458)

Works on Nicaragua’s US$50bn 'Gran Canal' inter-oceanic canal project linking the country’s Caribbean and Pacific coasts, officially began on 22 December 2014. With the Hong-Kong-based company HKND – which was awarded the build-operate concession in June 2013 – and the Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional (FMLN) government led by President Daniel Ortega yet to assuage transparency concerns, the start of the project was marred by violent protests.

In the weeks preceding the start of the works, there had already been various protests in the areas that will be affected by the project [RC-14-12], which remains controversial for various reasons. These include the lack of complete feasibility studies, concerns regarding its environmental impact, as well as claims by local communities that they have not been properly consulted. On 10 December the first protest march took place in the capital, Managua, which saw thousands take to the streets (more than 5,000 on local press reports) - the biggest protests against the ‘Gran Canal’ to date. Former Sandinista guerrilla commander, Henry ‘Modesto’ Ruiz, who has long distanced himself from President Ortega and the FMLN government, also presented a petition against the Canal’s construction containing 60,000 signatures.

The protests surrounding the launch of the works, however, were violent and attracted human rights concerns. On 23 December at least 21 people were injured in clashes between police and protesters which took place on a highway near El Tule area, in the Río San Juan department after the police tried to clear over 300 protesters. While national police chief, Aminta Granera, said that 15 police officers and six civilians had been injured, protest organisers said that at least 40 protesters had been injured. Meanwhile, foreign journalists have also been targeted. According to local investigative weekly, Confidencial, a Belgian photojournalist, Michèle Sennesael, who was covering the launch of the project, was reportedly deported on 22 December without being given any reason; while three Spanish journalists reporting for Televisión Española (TVE) were detained, although they were subsequently released. In a further sign that transparency concerns are mounting, for the first time the US has spoken out. On 6 January the US embassy in Managua issued a statement in which it raised concerns about “the lack of information and transparency that has existed, and continues to exist, over many of the important aspects of this project”.

• Workforce

According to a December 2014 report by Hong Kong-based firm, HKND, the five-year construction period of Nicaragua’s ‘Gran Canal’ project envisages “an estimated average annual workforce of approximately 50,000 employees…HKND anticipates that up to 50 percent of the workforce would be recruited from within Nicaragua”. The report notes that “it is likely, however, that a core contingent of experienced personnel (e.g., management staff, training personnel, selected equipment operators) would need to be employed on an expatriate basis, with about 25 percent from China and 25 percent from other countries”.