Nicaragua Canal

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Drafts for the Panama Canal (above) and Nicaragua Canal (below) (around 1888)

The Nicaragua Canal describes various historical and current projects for the construction of a shipping canal on the national territory of Nicaragua , which, like the Panama Canal , is to connect the Atlantic with the Pacific .

history

In 1539, Diego Machuca discovered the Río San Juan as a waterway between the Caribbean and Lake Nicaragua . As early as the early colonial period, Spanish engineers pointed out the possibility of a canal to their rulers and emphasized that such a canal could be used to import products from Peru and that Spain could rival the traders in the Far East. In 1551, the Spanish chronicler Francisco López de Gómara said: “You only have to make a firm decision to make the passage and it can be carried out. As soon as the will is not lacking, the means will not be lacking either. ”It is reported that the Spanish King Philip II saw God's creation in the land bridge between the two seas, which man is not entitled to improve. The real reasons for “falling asleep” of the project, however, were less religious considerations than questions of practical implementation.

First plans

Early draft of the Nicaragua Canal

In 1826 the Central American Congress took up the project again and passed a law to build a canal through Nicaragua. Since the commissioned US company did not begin with surveying work for a long time, contact was made with the ambassador of the Dutch king in 1829, but the king was overthrown before negotiations began. In 1840 the American diplomat and explorer John Lloyd Stephens wrote a detailed feasibility study for a Nicaragua Canal, which, however, had no consequences. In 1846 another attempt was made: a Nicaraguan diplomat in Belgium signed a contract to build a canal with Louis Napoléon Bonaparte - again without consequences.

Californian gold rush

When the California gold rush began in 1848 , the transcontinental railroad between New York and San Francisco did not yet exist and large crowds and with them supplies wanted to get from the east coast to the California coast, the legendary US railroad millionaire Cornelius Vanderbilt secured himself for his “American Atlantic and Pacific Ship Canal Company “the exclusive transit rights for twelve years on the sea route from San Juan del Norte on the Caribbean coast, which was then still called Greytown, via the Río San Juan and Lake Nicaragua, and by land to San Juan del Sur on the Pacific . The company later traded as "Accessory Transit Company". Vanderbilt earned enough from the transit income that building canals was not of interest to him.

Competition with the Panama Canal

In 1850, Great Britain and the United States signed the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty without Nicaragua , in which they jointly granted each other the right to build an interoceanic canal through Nicaragua. Eight years later, the Nicaraguans commissioned the French Félix Belly to build the canal. The US government then sent gunboats to the two coasts of Nicaragua and forced a treaty in their favor. But the favored group of investors preferred to build a canal through Panama , not least because US investors had started building a Panama railway in 1850.

In order to gain full ownership of Lake Nicaragua and to deny Costa Rica any right to participate in the project of the interoceanic canal, Nicaragua continually endeavored to wrest the Guanacasu area ceded in 1825 from Costa Rica and to close the mouth of the Río San Juan alone have.

Caricature from 1895

A new project for the construction of a canal was worked out by the American engineer Aniceto G. Menocal in 1885, but the prospects of realization were slim.

Towards the end of Chester A. Arthur's presidency , the Frelinghuysen - Zavala Treaty negotiated with Nicaragua was submitted to the United States Senate for ratification . The contract guaranteed the United States control rights over a twelve-mile-wide strip of land in which the canal would find its bed in return for payment of four million US dollars. Although a majority in the Senate would have been in favor of the treaty, it was not adopted after the intervention of President Grover Cleveland, who came into office in March 1885 . A particular reason for the rejection of the contract was the fear that if ratified, the United States would enter into an alliance with the Nicaraguan government that contradicts both the historically founded policy of the United States and the still valid Clayton-Bulwer Treaty .

After the failure of the Frelinghuysen-Zavala Treaty , private, financially strong people organized themselves as the Maritime Canal Company . They reached agreements with Nicaragua and Costa Rica, which is affected by riparian law, and in 1887 applied to the United States Congress for approval of the formation and activities ( charter ). They were convinced that they would have sufficient funds to complete the project within ten years and that they would be able to comply with the requirement by Congress to waive any state financial aid ( Holman Amendment ).

New recordings by American engineers had been in progress since December 1887, and the final survey work and maps were available in 1892. A headquarters was built in Greytown , which included residential barracks, a hospital and workshops. Ten miles of deforestation have been made and a mile of canal bed has been completed.

From 1890 onwards, the United States increased its influence over private company and control of the project. A bill guaranteed corporate bonds to the tune of $ 100 million. Congress rejected the guarantee, and the Maritime Canal Company was unable to raise further private capital in 1893 under the pressure of the prevailing financial crisis. Until 1897, the end of the company's activities approved by Congress, no further expansion steps were made on the Nicaraguan Isthmus.

Even for the Nicaragua Canal Commission , which was (again) confirmed by the President of the United States on June 9, 1899 , the mandate to “examine all possible canal routes” was only to be understood to a limited extent, since both politically and financially a privilege for the Panama Canal. Project was given.

Panama and Nicaragua Canal, length profiles (1901)

After the Nicaraguan general José Santos Zelaya had started negotiations with the German and Japanese governments about the construction of the interoceanic canal under Nicaraguan sovereignty, the USA forced Zelaya, who had ruled Nicaragua for 16 years, through a military uprising in which US marines intervened in 1909 Resignation.

In the year the Panama Canal was inaugurated in 1914, the USA secured the exclusive right to build the 278 km long, interoceanic canal again and again from Zelaya's successor, Adolfo Díaz , in the Chamorro-Bryan contract for 3 million US dollars "forever" Central American country struck by severe earthquake. The contract was not signed with the intention of seizing the opportunity, but only to prevent a rival project on the Panama Canal that could have jeopardized its economic success. Nicaragua was deprived of the opportunity to benefit from its geographic location economically.

Current plans

Suggested routes for the Nicaragua Canal

Since around the year 2000 the Panama Canal had become too narrow for some (post- Panamax ) cargo ships , old and new plans for building a canal were considered not only in Nicaragua, but also in Mexico and Colombia . To address this problem, the Panama Canal was expanded between 2007 and June 2016. A new third pair of locks now allows ships of the Neopanamax class to pass through.

El Gran Canal

In 1999 the Nicaraguan President Arnoldo Alemán set up an office in the presidential palace under the name “El Gran Canal”, which was supposed to deal with the canal idea and pursued a modification of the classic canal course. In order to avoid foreseeable conflicts with Costa Rica , which owns the south bank of the Río San Juan, the canal should run further north. In the same year a law was passed that allowed expropriations in favor of canal construction. The connecting port on the Atlantic coast, Monkey Point, was to be converted into a huge ocean-going port. Home to the critically endangered Rama people, the region was subject to early attacks by armed groups occupying territories and displacing residents.

In October 2006, President Enrique Bolaños Geyer announced the construction of the canal through his country based on old plans. The canal should be 280 kilometers long and cost 18 billion US dollars. Ships with a volume of up to 250,000 tons could use the canal, while the Panama Canal in its former form only allowed ships up to 80,000 tons (200,000 tons have been possible since the expansion in June 2016).

In October 2009 there were negotiations with the government of the United Arab Emirates about the financing of the channel. The talks took place between the UAE Foreign Minister, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed , and Daniel Ortega .

In July 2012, the Nicaraguan parliament approved a bill to build the Nicaragua Canal. 85 of the 91 MPs voted in favor of the construction project. The two companies SIT and Cinn , in which politicians are active, competed bitterly for the award of the building rights. The construction costs should be about 1.3 billion US dollars.

On June 14, 2013, the National Assembly approved the granting of the concession to build the canal to a consortium from Hong Kong , the HKND Group . At that time, the construction costs were given as 40 billion US dollars. The state of Nicaragua would become majority owner with 51%, while HKND would take over 49% of the shares. The project also includes a rail link, a pipeline , two ports and an airport. However, the process was still unclear when the license was granted. In any case, the Río San Juan cannot be used. According to an official announcement, construction should start in December 2014 and the canal should be opened in 2019 after a construction period of five years. HKND could operate the canal for up to 100 years, which critics see as a restriction on Nicaragua's sovereignty.

In the summer of 2014 HKND announced the route of the "El Gran Canal", from the mouth of the Río Punta Gorda on the Caribbean coast to the mouth of the Río Brito on the Pacific side. With the planned route, the canal should have a length of 278 kilometers and a width between 230 and 530 meters.

On December 22, 2014, the Nicaraguan government announced the groundbreaking of the canal construction. However, it was noted by critics that some requirements for the construction were still missing. There was neither a current feasibility study nor precise studies on the environmental impact of such a mega-structure. The financing was also not yet clarified.

During an on-site research, a 2015 reporter from Bloomberg Business found no evidence that construction had started. Two years later, in August 2017, the spokesman for the sewer project, Telémaco Talavera, announced that the project was progressing, but that there was no date for the start of construction. Studies were still being conducted. Numerous non-governmental organizations , including Amnesty International , reject the construction of the canals because of the expropriations involved.

The representative of the state on the commission monitoring the progress of the project is the President's son , Laureano Ortega. However, in the summer of 2017, the commission did not seem to have met for a year. In view of the fact that construction has still not started, there was speculation about the beneficiaries of the contract and about enrichment , solely through expropriations. Precisely because of the arbitrary expropriations, protests broke out, followed by nationwide protests against further government intentions in April and May 2018.

The Canal Company's office at the International Finance Center in Hong Kong closed in April 2018.

criticism

Environmental impact

On February 20, 2014, Axel Meyer from the University of Konstanz and Jorge A. Huete-Pérez , President of the Nicaraguan Academy of Sciences, issued an unusually sharp warning in a comment in Nature about possible effects on surrounding ecosystems. In their opinion, the canal on the forced route is tantamount to an “ecological disaster” for Nicaragua and the surrounding area.

400,000 hectares of rainforest and wetlands would be destroyed, which would be the habitat of endangered species such as the Central American tapir , the Geoffroy spider monkey or the jaguar , threaten the rights of a large number of autonomous indigenous peoples and endanger scientifically significant, untouched terrestrial and lacustrian ecosystems. In addition, the route runs through the Cerro Silva Natural Reserve and could endanger other surrounding ecosystems such as the Bosawás Biosphere Reserve or the Indio Maíz Biological Reserve , which are the last refuge for many endangered species.

The planned canal route runs directly through Lake Nicaragua. This not only results in the inevitable introduction of salt into the largest drinking water reservoir in Central America, but also leads to the settlement of invasive species with "catastrophic" effects on local populations. The pollution associated with the construction and use as well as disturbances in the oxygen content would endanger a large number of endemic fish species. The project would also require the construction of a lock system in an earthquake-prone area, which would endanger the drinking water supply and increase the risk of flooding.

The planned canal depth of 27.6 meters is almost twice the mean depth of Lake Nicaragua of 15 meters. With an intended channel width of 520 meters, Lake Nicaragua would have to be dredged extensively. This resulted in millions of tons of sediment that would have to be disposed of in other parts of the lake or on land.

Because of the ecological and related social conflicts, the organization Rescue the Rainforest has started a petition to the Nicaraguan government demanding that the project be stopped.

Economic and social impact

In an interview with the science magazine Spektrum der Wissenschaft , Axel Meyer suggests that China's geopolitical interests are the driving force behind the rival project to the Panama Canal , since the canal would not only provide an alternative connection to the existing Atlantic-Pacific waterway, but also the Building concession would also transfer extensive mining and land use rights.

The legal structure of the contract is designed in such a way that the state has no control over the type of investment, so that money can flow into private hands. A novelty, however, is that the HKND-Group is acquitted of all economic and ecological follow-up costs in advance. Furthermore, the environmental reports required for the construction would not be drawn up by - as is usual - independent experts, but by the HKND Group itself.

In the meantime, 30 lawsuits (as of February 25, 2014) against the government decision have been filed by indigenous peoples. The subject of the complaint was, among other things, the lack of consultation regarding the construction project.

The consultations did not begin until mid-2014, so there is little time left for residents who face expropriations and forced relocations. It is estimated that more than 100,000 people live in the area of ​​the planned canal, including many indigenous groups.

Literature, documents

  • Ephraim G. Squier, Eduard Hoepfner (transl.): The central American state Nicaragua in relation to its people, its nature and its monuments, together with a detailed treatise on the projected interocean canal. (With numerous illustrations and several maps) . Dyk'sche Buchhandlung, Leipzig 1854. - Full text
  • Carl Scherzer : The various projects to connect the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean . In: -:  Hikes through the Central American Free States of Nicaragua, Honduras and San Salvador with regard to German emigration and German trade . Westermann, Braunschweig 1857, pp. 219–238, full text
  • Félix Belly, Karl Schöbel (transl.): Breakthrough of the American isthmus Canal of Nicaragua. Discussion of Félix Belly's question. (With three cards) . Franck'sche Buchhandlung, Paris 1859. - Full text
  • George M. Robeson (Ed.): Reports of explorations and surveys for the location of a ship-canal between the atlantic and pacific oceans, through Nicaragua. 1872-1873 . (English). United States Government Printing Office , Washington (DC) 1874, OBV .
  • Nicaragua, Canal Proposal, 1882 . (English). In: The Frederick Douglass Papers at the Library of Congress . - full text .
  • Nicaragua Canal and Tehuantepec Railway . In: Otto Sarrazin (Red.): Centralblatt der Bauverwaltung . Published by the Ministry of Public Works. Vol. 5.1886, VI. Vintage. Ernst & Korn, Berlin 1886, ZDB -ID 200914-6 , p. 48. - Full text
  • Lindley Miller Keasbey: The Nicaragua Canal. History and assessment of the project . KJ Trübner, Strasbourg 1893, LCCN  09-025666 .
  • John T. Morgan: Government Aid to the Nicaragua Canal . In: The North American review . Vol. 156, Issue 435, February 1893, pp. 195-204 (English). - full text
  • Helmut Polakowsky: Panama or Nicaragua Canal? A. Solbrig, Leipzig-Neustadt 1893.
  • Arthur Silva White: Our Benefits from the Nicaragua Canal . (English). In: The North American review . Volume 161, Issue 469, December 1895, pp. 720-726. - Full text online
  • Jose Guitierrez Sobral: A Spanish View of the Nicaragua Canal . (English). In: The North American review . Volume 164, Issue 485, April 1897, pp. 462-472. - Full text online
  • Corry M. Stadden: The Latest Aspects of the Nicaragua Canal Project . (English). In: The North American review . Volume 167, Issue 505, December 1898, pp. 698-710. - full text
  • AS Crowninshield: Advantages of the Nicaragua Canal . In: The Century, a popular quarterly . Volume 57, Issue 3, January 1899, pp. 458-467 (English). - Full text online
  • (Georg) Eger: The sea canals through Central America. (Part I) . In: Otto Sarrazin (Red.): Centralblatt der Bauverwaltung . Published by the Ministry of Public Works. Volume 28.1901, XXI. Vintage. Wilhelm Ernst and Son, Berlin 1901, ZDB -ID 200914-6 , p. 173 ff. - Full text
    (Georg) Eger: The sea canals through Central America. (Part II and conclusion) . In: O (tto) Sarrazin (Red.): Centralblatt der Bauverwaltung . Published by the Ministry of Public Works. Volume 29.1901, XXI. Vintage. Wilhelm Ernst and Son, Berlin 1901, ZDB -ID 200914-6 , p. 182 f. - full text
  • CK Aird: Henry L. Abbot on the Panama Canal . In: Otto Sarrazin (Red.): Centralblatt der Bauverwaltung . Published by the Ministry of Public Works. Volume 26.1902, XXII. Vintage. Wilhelm Ernst and Son, Berlin 1902, ZDB -ID 200914-6 , p. 158 f. - full text
  • Sea canals . (Part One). In: Zentralblatt der Bauverwaltung. News from the Reich and State Authorities . Published by the Ministry of Public Works. Volume 39.1903, XXIII. Vintage. Ernst, Berlin 1903, ZDB -ID 200914-6 , p. 244 f. - Full text
    sea ​​canals . (Part II and conclusion). In: Zentralblatt der Bauverwaltung. News from the Reich and State Authorities . Published by the Ministry of Public Works. Volume 40.1903, XXIII. Vintage. Ernst, Berlin 1903, ZDB -ID 200914-6 , p. 250 ff. - full text
  • Kurt Eduard Imberg: The Nicaragua Canal. A historical-diplomatic study . T. Lissner, Berlin 1920, LCCN  24-030425 .
  • Hans Wehberg : Central American disputes regarding the Nicaragua Canal. (Part I) . In: Bernhard Harms : World Economic Archive. Journal of general and special world economics . Volume 15.1919 / 20. Fischer, Jena 1920, pp. 204-211. - full text .
    Hans Wehberg: Central American disputes regarding the Nicaragua Canal. (Part II and conclusion) . In: Bernhard Harms: World Economic Archive. Journal of general and special world economics . Volume 15.1919 / 20. Fischer, Jena 1920, pp. 311-317. - full text
  • The Nicaragua Channel . In: Zentralblatt der Bauverwaltung. News from the Reich and State Authorities . Published in the Prussian Ministry of Finance. Volume 8.1930, L. year. Ernst, Berlin 1903, ZDB -ID 200914-6 , p. 172 f. - full text
  • Expansion of the Panama Canal . In: Zentralblatt der Bauverwaltung. News from the Reich and State Authorities . Published in the Prussian Ministry of Finance. Volume 2.1931, LI. Vintage. Ernst, Berlin 1931, ZDB -ID 200914-6 , p. 30 f. - full text
  • Peter Gaupp: Daniel Ortega's canal project Century work or autocratic machination? In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung . No. 191 , August 20, 2013, p. 7 ( NZZ.ch ).
  • Urs Willmann: Nicaragua Canal. Pots instead of fish . In: The time . No. 9 , 2014 ( online - interview with evolutionary biologist Axel Meyer ).
  • The Proposed Nicaragua Canal, the country through which it will pass, and the people along its route . In: Harper's weekly , June 17, 1899, pp. 598 f. (English)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Panama / Nicaragua Canal (E) . In: Meyers Konversations-Lexikon . 4th edition. Volume 16, Verlag des Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig / Vienna 1885–1892, p. 558a. - one-sided color chart
  2. ↑ Richard Millett: Guardianes de la dinastia. Historia de la Guardia Nacional de Nicaragua, creada por Estados Unidos, y de la familia Somoza , Editorial Universitaria Centroamericana, San José , Costa Rica 1979, p. 13
  3. ↑ Stadden: The Latest Aspects , p. 700
  4. ↑ a b Stadden: The Latest Aspects , p. 702 f.
  5. ^ The Nicaragua Canal . In: The Manufacturer and Builder . Volume 24, Issue 11, November 1892, p. 245 (English). - full text
  6. ↑ The Nicaragua Canal. In:  Das Vaterland , Beiblatt Wirtschaftspolitische Blätter (No. 180/1899), July 3, 1899, p. III middle. (Online at ANNO ). Template: ANNO / Maintenance / possibly.
  7. ↑ Jos. Riedel:  The Panama and Nicaragua Canal. In:  Allgemeine Bauzeitung , year 1901, (LXVI. Year), pp. 52–57 (text). (Online at ANNO ). Template: ANNO / Maintenance / abzand Jos. Riedel:  The Panama and Nicaragua Canal. In:  Allgemeine Bauzeitung , year 1901, (LXVI. Year), p. 46 f. (Plans). (Online at ANNO ). Template: ANNO / Maintenance / abz.
  8. ↑ Ivan Gale: UAE mulls new 'Panama Canal' . (English) In: The National , October 7, 2009, accessed August 15, 2014
  9. ↑ Nicaragua is building competition with the Panama Canal . Zeit Online , July 4, 2012, AFP; Retrieved July 4, 2012
  10. ↑ Nicaragua builds the Atlantic-Pacific Canal . Report ORF Online July 4, 2012; Retrieved July 5, 2012
  11. ↑ 40 billion dollar project: Companies from China to build the Nicaragua Canal . Spiegel Online , June 6, 2013
  12. ↑ Nicaragua is planning competition for the Panama Canal . faz.net , June 14, 2013
  13. ↑ Peter Gaupp: Ortega digs a canal - with Chinese partners . In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung . No. 136 , June 15, 2013, p. 7 ( nzz.ch ).
  14. ^ Nicaragua y HKND Group ratifican Calendario de Trabajo de Obras del Gran Canal . el 19 digital, January 11, 2014 (Spanish, English)
  15. ↑ orf.at Construction of the Nicaragua Canal to begin in December, ORF.at from January 12, 2014
  16. ↑ Connection between the Atlantic and the Pacific: Route determined by channel through Nicaragua. Spiegel Online , July 9, 2014, accessed August 6, 2014 .
  17. ↑ Nicaragua Canal: Route set for waterway. Focus Online , July 8, 2014, accessed August 8, 2014 .
  18. ^ Nicaragua to break ground for canal linking oceans. BBC News, December 22, 2014, accessed December 22, 2014 .
  19. ↑ Peter Kleinort: Nicaraguakanal: Project comes to a standstill • Apparently problems with financing • Needs around 50 billion US dollars . In: Daily port report of March 25, 2015, p. 15
  20. ↑ "A construction deadline of 2020 has been set. Yet a four-day tour through El Tule and surrounding areas slated for crucial initial development only seemed to corroborate the belief, harbored by many analysts inside and outside Nicaragua, that this project isn't going to get done. "
  21. ↑ Canal Interoceanico de Nicaragua "sin fecha oficial" de construcción. In: Havana Times. August 12, 2017. Retrieved August 12, 2017 (Spanish).
  22. ↑ Nicaragua experiences its Chinese fairy tale . In: NZZ , September 19, 2017
  23. ↑ Why the protests in Nicaragua escalated . In: NZZ , April 23, 2018
  24. ^ Blake Schmidt: Ex-Billionaire Abandons Office in Prime Hong Kong Tower. www.bloomberg.com, April 26, 2018, accessed on September 14, 2019 .
  25. ^ A b Axel Meyer , Huete-Pérez: Conservation: Nicaragua Canal could wreak environmental ruin . Nature, February 20, 2014, Volume 506 Number 7488, doi: 10.1038 / 506287a .
  26. ↑ Axel Meyer: The black river of the "colonialists" . In: FAZ , December 9, 2015, p. N2.
  27. ↑ info.arte.tv
  28. ↑ regenwald.org
  29. ↑ a b Nicaragua Canal: Work of the Century or Disaster? Spektrum.de interview with Axel Meyer , accessed on March 16, 2014 at 3 p.m.
  30. ↑ Commentary by Cecilia Medal Salaverry in E + Z / D + C. http://www.dandc.eu/de/article/mit-dem-bau-des-nicaraguakanals-uebergeht-die-regierung-die-eigene-bevoelkerung
  31. ^ In: O (tto) Sarrazin: Centralblatt der Bauverwaltung . Published by the Ministry of Public Works. Volume 16.1893, XIII. Vintage. Wilhelm Ernst and Son, Berlin 1893, ZDB -ID 200914-6 , p. 168. - kobv.de