{"id":16173,"date":"2015-08-27T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-08-27T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/live-hakamagwp.pantheonsite.io\/features\/rama-versus-canal"},"modified":"2018-08-16T14:53:47","modified_gmt":"2018-08-16T21:53:47","slug":"rama-versus-canal","status":"publish","type":"custom_features","link":"https:\/\/hakaimagazine.com\/features\/rama-versus-canal\/","title":{"rendered":"The Rama Versus the Canal"},"content":{"rendered":"

On a Sunday morning on the Nicaraguan island of Rama Cay, Becky McCray visits with her family in her parents\u2019 home over a breakfast of beans, coconut rice, coconut bread, and thick coffee, with the grounds still swimming in the bottom of the cup. The food was prepared over an open fire in a wall-less kitchen building; the aroma of coffee mingles with the wood smoke and the salty sea breeze.<\/p>\n

Like other traditional homes built by the Rama, Nicaragua\u2019s smallest indigenous group, McCray\u2019s parents\u2019 wooden home sits on stilts. The planks of the floor and walls are fitted together loosely, so you can see chickens scratching underneath from inside. The roof is made of thatched palm leaves and the windows are square holes, with solid wood shutters to close out violent evening winds.<\/p>\n

Ten of McCray\u2019s 11 adult siblings still live on Rama Cay, a 22-hectare island that rises from the water like a set of oversized goggles about a kilometer and a half off Nicaragua\u2019s Caribbean coast. The island is home to roughly half of the Rama\u2019s 2,000 or so community members; McCray and another sister traveled from Bluefields, the closest city, 20 minutes by motorboat up the coast. Some of their children, aged two through 11, race through the house. The family members joke with one another in Rama English (also known as Rama Cay Kriol), the native language for most members of the Rama community. This English creole is incomprehensible to speakers of standard English.<\/p>\n

One brother talks about his upcoming fishing trip\u2014he\u2019ll fish from a traditional wooden dory on the open ocean and sell his catch on the mainland. Fishing is his primary source of income, as is common for Rama men. Elsewhere on the island, both men and women are preparing their canoes for a trip inland to plant corn, beans, and breadfruit in their farmland.<\/p>\n

Unlike most Rama, Becky McCray has a college degree and speaks fluent Spanish. In between laughing with her siblings and nephews, she discusses her work as a legal defender for indigenous communities in Nicaragua\u2019s Caribbean region. Recently, most of her personal and professional energy has been focused on protecting the Rama\u2019s territory from being bisected by an interoceanic canal.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere they are going to put the canal is where our people go to fish. They survive by that,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

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The Rama travel their coastal homeland with wooden dories and small motorboats, which would be eclipsed by megaships traversing the Nicaragua Canal. Photo by Emily Liedel<\/p><\/div>\n

The Rama\u2019s territory, along Nicaragua\u2019s Caribbean coast, stretches roughly from the Costa Rican border north to just south of Bluefields. Their territory is shared with the Kriols, descendants of Africans who adopted the Rama way of life centuries ago. The Rama-Kriols hold a communal title not only to the nine settlements where community members live, but also to the 4,843-square-kilometer territory where they fish, hunt, and farm. If current construction plans for the canal go ahead, that territory will be severed in two. The massive Nicaragua Canal planned by a secretive Chinese billionaire, Wang Jing, and managed by his company, the Hong Kong Nicaragua Development Group (HKND), will stretch from the Pacific coast, across Lake Nicaragua, to the Caribbean coast and is destined to wipe at least one Rama village off the map. It will also make travel between the northern and southern parts of the territory impossible, at least as the Rama travel now, in small motorboats and wooden canoes. The Rama\u2019s fishing grounds will no longer be safe in the path of 400-meter-long megaships approaching the canal. Rama farming techniques involve elaborate field rotation and substantial travel to reach the fields; the canal will both reduce the available farmland and render much of it inaccessible.<\/p>\n

Although the Rama community is among the least powerful groups in Nicaragua, an international court case currently underway gives them and other canal opponents a glimmer of hope.<\/p>\n

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The proposed route of the Nicaragua Canal cuts across the country and bisects Rama-Kriol territory. Illustration by Mark Garrison<\/p><\/div>\n

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Nowhere is concern about the canal more acute than the village of Bangkukuk Taik, about two to three hours south of Rama Cay by motorboat over the open ocean. The isolated village is home to about 140 people, including 15 or so who still speak Rama, an indigenous language in the Chibchan family related to languages spoken as far south as Colombia. Bangkukuk Taik is among the most isolated of the nine villages in the Rama-Kriol territory and is the only place where there are regular classes in Rama for children. The Rama in Bangkukuk Taik have the deepest knowledge of traditional farming, hunting, and medicine, like how to hunt deer at night and how to collect iibu<\/em> seeds and use the oil as a cough and headache medicine.<\/p>\n

Under the current canal route, Bangkukuk Taik will become the canal\u2019s Caribbean-side deep-water port and will be called Punta de \u00c1guila. (Bangkukuk Taik means \u201cEagle Point\u201d in Rama; Punta de \u00c1guila has the same meaning in Spanish.) The wooden houses on stilts will\u2014critics assume, based on the proposed port location\u2014be destroyed and replaced by high-rises and port infrastructure. It\u2019s hard to imagine people used to walking barefoot and hunting and fishing for their livelihood fitting into the slick, modern city represented in mock-ups of what the finished Punta de \u00c1guila will look like. The current residents of Bangkukuk Taik will be forced to move.<\/p>\n

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The Rama community of Bangkukuk Taik, which currently has no cars, paved roads, or running water, is likely to be transformed, if not supplanted, should the Nicaragua Canal proceed. Photo by Alex Garcia<\/p><\/div>\n

McCray has been trying to prevent that from happening for more than two years. The day before the canal concession law was adopted by the National Assembly, in June 2013, she and four other members of the Rama-Kriol Territorial Government traveled from Bluefields to the capital, Managua. They hoped to testify against the law they feared would destroy the traditional way of life in the Rama territory.<\/p>\n

Just as their bus to Managua was preparing to depart, three police officers boarded and demanded McCray and her companions gather their belongings and disembark. McCray insisted on seeing the police officers\u2019 identification. They refused. After a tense 10-minute standoff, the group was allowed to go. The following day, McCray and her companions watched in dismay as the law was adopted. \u201cWe didn\u2019t get a chance to say anything,\u201d McCray remembers. \u201cThey didn\u2019t respect us, they didn\u2019t give us a chance to defend what we were claiming.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Becky McCray is among the canal opponents currently fighting for indigenous rights in Nicaragua. Photo by Emily Liedel<\/p><\/div>\n

Nicaraguan human rights lawyer Maria Luisa Acosta is McCray\u2019s primary source of legal support and has represented the Rama in all of their legal challenges related to territory since the late 1990s. Acosta filed a legal challenge to the canal concession law on July 1, 2013, just weeks after it was approved. Like the 31 other legal challenges to the law\u2014based on environmental factors, human rights, and national sovereignty\u2014the Rama\u2019s legal case was dismissed. The Supreme Court said the lawsuits were invalid because the law passed the National Assembly with a wide majority and because the major development project took precedence. (Acosta and other canal opponents think the challenges failed because Nicaragua\u2019s Supreme Court is controlled by the ruling Sandinistas.)<\/p>\n

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According to both international and Nicaraguan law, indigenous people must give their \u201cfree, informed, and prior consent\u201d to any project that will affect the community\u2019s territory or way of life. According to Manuel Coronel Kautz, the president of Nicaragua\u2019s Canal Authority, the National Assembly had documents from the Rama-Kriol government giving permission for the canal to be constructed prior to the vote that granted the concession\u2014though he has not been able to produce those documents. Telemaco Talavera, the spokesperson for the Canal Commission, has similarly stated to the Nicaraguan press that the Canal Commission has all the necessary permission from the Rama-Kriol to carry out studies and other actions on their territory.<\/p>\n

The Rama-Kriol government disagrees. In a press release just after Talavera\u2019s announcement, it clarified that it had provided permission solely for environmental and social-impact studies. The first permit was granted in November 2013\u2014several months after<\/em> the concession was signed into law. The Rama-Kriol government claims that it yielded to pressure from the national government and only granted the permit after environmental consultants contracted by HKND and escorted by the military entered Rama territory, causing alarm within the communities.<\/p>\n

Citing the government\u2019s failure to obtain free, informed, and prior consent to use Rama-Kriol lands as part of the canal construction before passing the concession law, Acosta filed a complaint with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) in June 2014. The following December, she asked the IACHR for precautionary measures, which would prevent work from proceeding on the canal until the Rama had been properly consulted. The IACHR is a part of the Organization of American States and hears complaints about human rights abuses from around the Americas.<\/p>\n

In March, Acosta, McCray, and five other canal opponents traveled to Washington, DC, for the IACHR hearing. McCray represented the six indigenous groups whose territory is affected by the canal route; the others spoke about canal-related environmental impacts, police repression of protesters, and other human-rights violations. McCray was nervous as she read her remarks in Spanish. She cited three articles in the concession law that explicitly give the Canal Commission the right to expropriate indigenous land, and then she accused the government of violating international norms in the way it conducted community consultations, perhaps most blatantly by paying villagers\u2014many of whom are illiterate\u2014to come to the meetings. (Those villagers, Acosta claims, were then pressured into signing documents that they could not understand.)<\/p>\n

Thomas Antkowiak, a law professor at Seattle University and a specialist in the Inter-American human-rights system, believes the Rama\u2019s case against the canal is, under international and even Nicaraguan law, ironclad. But that doesn\u2019t mean the IACHR will halt canal construction, which officially began in December 2014 on the Pacific coast, or order that the concession law be changed or overturned. Like other international organizations, the IACHR depends on its member states. In lower-profile cases, Antkowiak says, member states usually abide by the commission\u2019s decisions. However, when international law conflicts with a high-profile project, it\u2019s more complicated.<\/p>\n

In the case of Belo Monte, a major hydroelectric dam in Brazil\u2019s Amazon, indigenous leaders filed a complaint in front of the IACHR in 2010, and in 2011 the commission found in their favor, ordering the Brazilian government to stop all construction on the dam until the indigenous communities had been properly consulted. The Brazilian government announced that it would ignore the ruling and then broke off its relationship with both the commission and the Organization of American States. The IACHR subsequently backtracked, saying in a statement that the indigenous leaders\u2019 complaints were not really about the lack of consultation but about whether or not the dam should be constructed at all. The commission removed its requirement that the government consult with the indigenous groups.<\/p>\n

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Residents of Bangkukuk Taik rely on their territory for hunting, fishing, and farming yucca, bananas, sugar cane, beans, corn, and other crops. Photo by Alex Garcia<\/p><\/div>\n

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In the Nicaragua Canal case, the IACHR issued a summary of the March proceedings in late June, which included a confirmation that the commission had asked the Nicaraguan government for proof that they adequately consulted with the Rama and studied the environmental impacts. In Acosta\u2019s view, this is a step in the right direction. \u201cIt\u2019s the first time someone is demanding that the government provide information,\u201d she says. \u201cNone of the [other] international organizations or regulators have done so yet.\u201d<\/p>\n

The deadline for Nicaragua to respond to the request is confidential and is released neither to the press nor to the petitioners. As of publication, neither the Nicaraguan representatives nor the IACHR will comment on where the case stands. When it\u2019s issued, the actual reply from the Nicaraguan government\u2014which the IACHR will base its recommendations on\u2014will also be confidential. If the government fails to respond or ignores the recommendations, the commission can recommend that the case proceed to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, based in San Jos\u00e9, Costa Rica. The court\u2019s rulings are legally binding for the 25 states that have accepted its jurisdiction\u2014which includes Nicaragua.<\/p>\n

Although the concession agreement with HKND doesn\u2019t make any special references to indigenous territories, Kautz, the president of Nicaragua\u2019s Canal Authority, insists that indigenous peoples will be treated differently than regular landowners. Aside from the Rama, whose territory would likely be the most impacted, at least four other indigenous groups would face disruption if the canal proceeds. Nicaraguan law explicitly bars indigenous land from being bought or sold; that means the land will be rented, not expropriated, says Kautz. Yet, critics say that because this is not expressly stated in the concession law, the land is vulnerable to seizure.<\/p>\n

In fact, Acosta and other opponents say that, as written, the canal concession law gives HKND the right to expropriate land anywhere in the country, regardless of whether or not the canal is built. Acosta worries that the Rama will lose their territory\u2014displaced by golf courses and beach resorts\u2014even if the Nicaragua Canal is never built.<\/p>\n

The last time the Rama territory was seriously threatened was in the late 1990s, when the Nicaraguan government planned a dry canal (an overland route for cargo) that would have bisected the community\u2019s territory. Legal challenges against the dry canal were unsuccessful, but it was never built for political and economic reasons.<\/p>\n

Maybe the Rama will dodge unwanted development a second time. But it will take a sustained fight from the community and international support. The case at the IACHR is probably the Rama\u2019s best chance for meaningful international intervention, but it remains to be seen whether or not this glimmer of hope is enough to protect their territory and keep their culture alive.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One small indigenous community is fighting the powers behind the Nicaragua Canal\u2014will they win this round?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":13112,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[81],"tags":[],"acf":{"hero_video_url":null,"hero_video_caption":"","deck":"One small indigenous community is fighting the powers behind the Nicaragua Canal\u2014will they win this round?","authors_group":[{"by_group":"by","contributors_group":[15522]}],"word_count_override":"","podbean1":"","podbean2":"","redirect":"","geolocation":{"address":"12.011082, -83.76770","lat":12.011082,"lng":-83.7677},"related":[16115,24584],"twitterimage":14674,"facebookimage":14174,"twitterdescription":"","edited":"","factchecked":"","code":"","no_old_story_flag":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hakaimagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/features\/16173"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hakaimagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/features"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hakaimagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/custom_features"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/hakaimagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/features\/16173\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24639,"href":"https:\/\/hakaimagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/features\/16173\/revisions\/24639"}],"acf:post":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hakaimagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article-short\/24584"},{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hakaimagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/features\/16115"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hakaimagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13112"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hakaimagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hakaimagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hakaimagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}