Wang Jing’s 100-year concession revoked
Environmentalists and rural leaders warn that the dictatorship wants to keep alive the “Grand Interoceanic Canal Project”, which never took off in eleven years
HAVANA TIMES – Daniel Ortega ordered his deputies in the National Assembly to urgently reform the Legal Regime Law of the Grand Interoceanic Canal of Nicaragua and the Creation of the Authority of the Grand Interoceanic Canal of Nicaragua (Law 800) and to repeal Law 840 to cancel the concession held by his ally, Chinese businessman Wang Jing.
Lawyer and environmental law expert Monica Lopez Baltodano described it as a “massive defeat” for the dictatorship in terms of the possibility of carrying out the canal project, and a “triumph” for the environment and peasant, indigenous, and Afro-descendant communities that would have been affected by the proposed work.
“Today is definitely a day of celebration because this would not have been possible without the consistent efforts of thousands of Nicaraguans who opposed the surrender of Nicaragua’s national sovereignty,” she told CONFIDENCIAL and the Esta Noche program.
According to Lopez Baltodano, the Ortega regime decided to revoke the concession from Chinese businessman Wang Jing “because internationally he is recognized as a swindler,” as evidenced by the bankruptcy of his Xinwei company and his expulsion from the Shanghai Stock Exchange.
“All these factors contributed to the fact that the dictatorship had no choice but to recognize the failure of the concession handed to this private Chinese investor. We have been denouncing the risks it posed to the State of Nicaragua for eleven years,” noted Baltodano.
The Failure of the Canal Project
The statement of reasons sent by Ortega indicates that the reform to Law 800 aims to “strengthen and update the national legal order, taking into account the ever-changing national and international environment,” so it suggests that “some laws need to be adapted to address these changes and maintain optimal management within the State of Nicaragua.”
“Among these changes, it is necessary to adapt Law 800, the Legal Regime Law of the Grand Interoceanic Canal of Nicaragua and the Creation of the Authority of the Grand Canal of Nicaragua, according to the new realities and to promote better performance for the benefit of Nicaraguan families,” the document read in the National Assembly states.
The Canal project was approved in July 2012 by the National Assembly, which had a Sandinista majority, and passed the “Lega