- Title: Threats, harassment dog Nicaragua canal development: Amnesty International
- Date: 3rd August 2017
- Summary: MANAGUA, NICARAGUA (AUGUST 3, 2017) (REUTERS) GENERAL VIEW OF AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL NEWS CONFERENCE WITH ACTIVISTS DENOUNCING NICARAGUA CANAL DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR FOR AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL AMERICAS, ERIKA GUEVARA-ROSAS, SPEAKING AT NEWS CONFERENCE VIEW OF AUDIENCE AT NEWS CONFERENCE PANEL APPLAUDING AT NEWS CONFERENCE LOCAL RESIDENTS JOINING MEDIA IN AUDIENCE AT NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) DIRECTOR FOR AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL AMERICAS, ERIKA GUEVARA-ROSAS, SAYING: "This canal, whose construction has not yet begun, has in four years seen threats, grave human rights violations against communities and the organisations (NGOs) which accompany them in their fight and resistance, because there have been incidents of repression by authorities towards communities that are demanding information and who are asking for information on accounts from the government." PANEL AT NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (English) RIGHTS ACTIVIST, BIANCA JAGGER, SAYING: "It pains me to see that (President) Daniel Ortega, who claims to be a liberator of Nicaragua, is doing exactly what (former dictator Anastasio) Somoza did, selling out the natural resources, violating the fundamental rights of the people affected, shrouding in secrecy."
- Embargoed: 18th August 2017 00:36
- Keywords: Amnesty International Nicaragua Canal report development human rights Managua
- Location: MANAGUA AND RIVAS AND OMETEPE, NICARAGUA
- City: MANAGUA AND RIVAS AND OMETEPE, NICARAGUA
- Country: Nicaragua
- Topics: Environment
- Reuters ID: LVA0016SLSJSZ
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: US-based rights group Amnesty International on Thursday (August 3) accused authorities in Nicaragua of a "campaign of harassment" in its push for a Chinese-led construction of an interoceanic canal that would reportedly affect thousands of families living in its path.
In 2013, Nicaraguan lawmakers granted a 50-year concession to Chinese company HKND Group to design, build and manage the shipping channel across the Central American nation that would compete with the Panama Canal. Since the decision, tensions gave been heightened over the construction of the $50 billion shipping canal that farmers and local residents say will force residents from their home and submerge communities.
In its report "Danger: Rights For Sale", Amnesty report catalogues reports of threats and harassment received by peasant communities along the proposed path of the canal. The NGO reports that nearly 120,000 people will be affected by the canal''s construction, many of whom are amongst the country's poorest citizens.
Former actress, EU Goodwill Ambassador and human rights activist Bianca Jagger has been campaigning against the canal's construction. Jagger, a Nicaraguan citizen, was a strong critic of former Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Somoza and compared President Daniel Ortega's no-holds-barred push for the canal to the former military ruler.
But the Nicaraguan government defends the canal's construction on an economic basis, saying it could boost the country's gross domestic product by up to 15 percent. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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