close
Fox News Flash top headlines are here. Check out what’s clicking on Foxnews.com.
After nearly a decade, Nicaragua’s congress finally canceled on Wednesday 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.
A NEW STUDY SAYS ABOUT HALF OF NICARAGUA’S POPULATION WANTS TO EMIGRATE
Thousands of Nicaraguan farmers had protested against land seizures meant to create a route for the government-backed project.
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.
After nearly a decade, 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. (Nik Wheeler/Corbis via Getty Images)
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.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Detractors argued 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.
close Video Ted Williams discusses investigation into missing Texas real estate agent Suzanne Simpson Former…
close Video Fox News Flash top headlines for November 6 Fox News Flash top headlines…
Data theft and ransomware attacks against health care and critical third-party providers are still happening…
For most of the 2024 presidential campaign, public opinion polls suggested that President-elect Trump had…
California Gov. Gavin Newsom responded for the first time to President-elect Trump’s victory over Vice President…
EXCLUSIVE: Americans could know the balance of power in the House of Representatives as soon…