In Nicaragua, Amnesty International has accused the government of a “campaign of harassment” against activists challenging a proposed $50 billion canal linking the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Campesinos say the project could devastate the environment while displacing up to 120,000 people. This is Amnesty International lawyer Erika Guevara Rosas.

Erika Guevara Rosas: “This canal, whose construction has not yet begun, has in four years seen threats, grave human rights violations against communities and the organizations which accompany them in their fight and resistance, because there have been incidents of repression by authorities toward communities that are demanding information from the government.”

In one incident last December, activists say federal police attacked a campesino protest caravan with tear gas and both live and rubber bullets.