The alacrity with which Daniel Ortega’s government has greeted plans to construct a new inter-oceanic canal masks 200 years of abortive attempts to connect Atlantic with Pacific at this juncture of Central America.
The Nicaraguan president’s latest plan would transform the economy of a country considered the Western Hemisphere’s second poorest, goes the official narrative. Yet obfuscation, fierce opposition and increasing violence blight the backdrop. Work ostensibly started late last year, but doubts persist over whether the mega-project will see a single cargo vessel or tanker go coast to coast through Nicaragua.
