Canal deal cripples Nicaraguan sovereignty, again: activist
History repeats itself with the signing of the Ortega-Wang Jing Treaty, which alienates Nicaraguan sovereignty to a private company for a century, thus turning Nicaraguans into pawns, yet again, for big interest and the super powerful.
“The independence, sovereignty and national self-determination are inalienable rights of the people and foundations of the Nicaraguan nation. Any foreign interference in the internal affairs of Nicaragua or any attempt to undermine those rights threatens the life of the people. It is the duty of all Nicaraguans to preserve and defend these rights.”
-Article 1 of Nicaragua's constitution
The people of Nicaragua have had, throughout its history, the legitimate desire to take advantage of prospects offered by its geography, especially to construct an inter-oceanic canal, which in turn would mean economic transformation and national development, as well as a source of well-being for all.
These just aspirations and illusions of wealth and progress of the Nicaraguan people have been repeatedly manipulated and misused, resulting in a sale of the Nicaraguan dream to secret back-door negotiations to feed selfish claims of excessive power and ambition, and what is worse, the delivery to unknown individuals with unknown intentions of our national sovereignty, as it occurred before - with the Bryan-Chamorro Treaty of 1914, when a substantial part of our territory was sold to the United States for US$3 million for the promise of a canal.
History repeats itself with the signing of the Ortega-Wang Jing Treaty, which alienates Nicaraguan sovereignty to a private company for a century, thus turning Nicaraguans into pawns, yet again, for big interest and the super powerful.
The "treaty" was negotiated for the price of US$40 billion by Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega in secret, without any transparency, national consensus, due process of a open public bid established by the Nicaraguan procurement legislature. It grants HKND Group chairman Wang Jing, who has no previous experience managing this type of project, absolute rights of construction and operation of an inter-oceanic channel for a century, a railway line from coast to coast, ports, airports, pipelines and commercial zones and many other works, for the paltry sum of US$10 million annually. These absolute rights over Nicaragua can be passed on to any third party, whether a state or another company, in whole or in parts, if Wang so chooses, without the need for public approval.