Nicaragua launches construction of inter-oceanic canal
They originally wanted to build what became the Panama canal in either Nicaragua or Honduras, and I should google this but I cannot remember why they ended up with Panama ( probably more political influence there...Teddy Roosevelt was an odd mixture of reformer and imperalist, and had no qualms of appropriating the Canal Zone as U.S. Territory.
Malaria was always an awful problem in Panama, I know just how much because my uncle who was an Army Sgt. was stationed there right before World War II and got malaria, which they never got under control ( it led to his death, that and his "tough guy" lack of taking care of himself).
Chinese company HKND launched work Monday on a $50bn canal linking the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans
Nicaragua has announced the start of work on a new canal linking the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
At an opening ceremony, Wang Jing, the president of HKND, the Chinese company building the canal, said this moment would go down in history.
The 278km (172 mile) waterway will be longer, deeper and wider than the Panama Canal.
But critics fear a negative environmental impact and doubt its viability and economic benefits.
The Grand Canal of Nicaragua, as it has been called, aims to rival Panama's waterway and lift the country out of poverty.
The opening ceremony was largely symbolic, as work began on an access road for machinery needed to build a port for the canal on Nicaragua's Pacific coast.
Nicaragua's Vice-President Omar Halleslevens said the canal would change the history and the economy of Nicaragua, one of Latin America's poorest countries.
"With this great canal, Nicaragua expects to move 5% of the world's commerce that moves by sea, which will bring great economic benefits and double the GDP (gross domestic product),'' said Mr Halleslevens.
Analysis: Arturo Wallace, BBC News, Nicaragua
There is a clear sense of expectation here, where the construction of a man made passage between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans designed to dwarf the Panama Canal has officially begun.
But there is also tension: over the past few weeks protests against the canal have increased.
And the authorities' decision to hold the main groundbreaking ceremony in Managua, some 120km away from where the waterway is to built, won't help convince the many sceptics who still doubt the project's viability.
The government claims that the project, awarded to a Hong Kong based international consortium, will finally lift the Western hemisphere's second poorest country out of poverty.
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