It is a case of the proverbial pot calling the kettle black.

When Costa Rica began construction of the Juan Rafael Mora highway parallel to Nicaragua’s San Juan river in our northern border region, the Daniel Ortega administration was quick to claim that the road construction caused environmental damage to the river and filed a complaint before the Central American Court of Justice.

Now the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has issued a complaint over environmental damage cause by the construction of a new highway in Nicaragua. Based on the reports of several indigenous groups who live in Bosawas Biosphere Reserve, considered by UNESCO as the most important source of clean air and biodiversity in Central America, the UNESCO is calling attention to a 40-kilometer road construction project.

The Bosawas Reserve is located in the northern region of Nicaragua. It is home to vast cloud and rainforest land and many wildlife species that have sought refuge therein, escaping poachers and unscrupulous developers. The UNESCO representative in Nicaragua, Juan Bautista Arrien, called a press conference and remarked that the buffer zone of Bosawas is disappearing.

Indigenous leaders have gone before the Nicaraguan Parliament with video and photographic evidence of the heavy machinery plowing through the rainforest, escorted by members of the National Police. It is suspected that the mayor of a nearby mining town, who is a Sandinista loyalist, is behind the road construction, and that the funding comes from a Venezuelan firm that is involved in logging operations in the area. An indigenous Sandinista legislator is supporting his people in the fight against the project.

Juan Bautista Arrien also mentioned at the press conference that:

“this road is causing a direct effect on the nucleus of the biosphere reserve, and it is very serious matter.”

Source: La Prensa Grafica (El Salvador)