By Erica Lang / Cronkite Borderlands Project
Published June 17, 2015
Between the Pacific Coast and the western shores of Lake Nicaragua lies a strip of land less than 100 kilometers wide. There, in a teeming municipality called Rivas, is a large community of Nicaraguan citizens who fear they will be displaced by a project announced by President Daniel Ortega: the building of the Nicaraguan Canal Project. Ortega promises new economic opportunities for residents that could propel the country into the 21st century.
Still, the project has stirred concern among those in the path of the canal. Two families, one from a coastal community and another from the Lake Nicaragua region, represent the uncertainty many feel about the future.
VIDEO: Nicaraguans who live in canal path fear for future
In between the Pacific Coast and the western shores of Lake Nicaragua lies a strip of land less than 100 kilometers wide. There, in a teeming municipality called Rivas, is a large community of Nicaraguan citizens who fear they will be displaced by a project announced by President Daniel Ortega: the building of the Nicaraguan Canal Project.
GALLERY: Obrajuelo and San Jorge
The proposed Nicaragua Canal will cut through Lake Nicaragua near the community of San Jorge. According to government officials, the canal will dwarf the Panama project and will be the largest canal in the world. Families in this area fear their land and way of life will be taken from them as the canal project moves forward.
