The proposed canal would connect ports in Parismina in the Caribbean province of Limón and La Cruz in Guanacaste through 315 kilometers (196 miles) of railway and an 8-lane road.
One U.S. official expelled was reportedly on assignment to research a transoceanic canal that a Chinese company plans to build to rival the one in Panama.
Benita Smith, a 58-year-old Nicaraguan woman, drowned in the event. Another woman traveling with Smith, Mirian Sambola, was injured and taken to a hospital in Guápiles.
Costa Rica Foreign Affairs Minister Manuel González said the work to block the canal prevented major environmental damage that would have been virtually impossible to repair.
President Luis Guillermo Solís responded to media reports that Nicaragua would add 13 more dredging ships to the two already in the river, which is Nicaraguan territory. The president alleged that the additional dredging would risk affecting the water levels in the river and could damage the Isla Calero wetlands.
If we hadn’t known about Tortuguero’s crime wave, the village would have seemed perfectly sweet. The alleged risks didn’t stop us, but an aura of danger wafted everywhere. Such is the power of a headline.
MANAGUA, Nicaragua – It would be an engineering feat of gargantuan proportions – a $40 billion Chinese-built canal across Nicaragua to boost the flow of ships between the Caribbean and the Pacific.
