April not only brings longing for life in Nicaragua, but also reminds us how the Ortega-Murillo regime continues to destroy our forests, plunder our biodiversity and concessioning our territory for mining. In these coming weeks, at least five more lots will be published in La Gaceta: Acacia, Polaris, San Miguel and Cerro Chiripa, in favor of three new Chinese mining companies – Nicaragua Zhongwei Minería Group SA, Nicaragua Jia Run SA and Minesight Minería SA -, and an additional lot to the company Global Group SA, in the indigenous territory of Li Aubra, in the northern Caribbean of the country.
If mining concessions were playing cards, what happens in the country would be a perfect game of poker, where the dealer would be the regime and the players would represent the different capitals that have a presence in the mining sector. Each card would be a percentage of our national territory that is detached or given to each player, regardless of who is there or what exists within that concession. According to its own estimates, in this deck at least between 40 and 55 percent of the national territory for mining would be at stake, while the regime estimates receiving at least 45 applications for mining rights this year.
Before starting the poker game, the regime distributes mining concessions at will and whim. If someone does not agree with the game, they are removed or expropriated. Meanwhile, various Chinese companies serve the feudal family as a front to control the gold industrial sector; Others, like front men sitting at a casino table, operate as a Trojan horse to market the minerals extracted by artisanal miners, and the old mining capitals have become simple Jokers (wild cards) within this industry.
In this poker game controlled by the dictatorship, the old mining players must be reminded that the “house always wins,” and that none of their businesses are safe. Whether due to tax, extortion or a simple whim of the dealer’s change of deck, they can be affected at any time. Which means that the political visits of the main investors that we have witnessed are nothing more than a show offered to ensure that their interests do not continue to be affected.
The people of Nicaragua, the opposition groups and the entire society in general have to be aware that this “charanga” is a mafia game where the biggest loser is the country, not only because of the looting of wealth, but because of the pollution and environmental and social destruction that mining leaves us with. For this reason, this April there must be a clear commitment from everyone to reverse this situation as soon as there is a political change in Nicaragua.
