Nicaragua, a nation rich in biodiversity and home to vast forests, is facing an unprecedented environmental crisis. Between 2015 and 2022, the destruction of natural areas facilitated by the Daniel Ortega-Rosario Murillo regime reduced the country’s forest cover by an “alarming 24 percent,” the report Forests for Sale, of Nicaraguan nongovernmental organization Pro-Transparency and Anti-Corruption Observatory (OPTA) indicated.
If the current rate of deforestation continues, in 10 years the country will have less than 20 percent of its forest cover, the report says. In 2023, Nicaragua lost 60,000 hectares of primary forests. It is the country with the highest rate of deforestation in relation to its size, with a reduction of 4.2 percent per year, said independent journalism site Nicaragua Investiga.
The repercussions of this deforestation are devastating at both the environmental and social levels, Amaru Ruiz, director of the Nicaraguan environmental organization Fundación del Río, told Diálogo on July 25. “The loss of natural forests causes serious consequences, including water depletion, changes in local climatic conditions, contribution to global climate change, and loss of biodiversity.”
“Uncontrolled deforestation destroys the natural habitat of communities and indigenous peoples,” a former leader of the Miskito indigenous people, who prefers to remain anonymous for security reasons, told Diálogo from exile on July 4. “Daily logging has eliminated precious woods such as mahogany and cedar, vital resources for their [indigenous people] subsistence.” This devastation, he added, is driven by the regime and the armed forces.
Circle of corruption
According to the OPTA study, the Ortega-Murillo regime facilitates deforestation in the country through corruption and concentration of power since 2007. This corruption involves the regime, the Ortega-Murillo family, the party, and its front men, creating institutionalized “power fiefdoms” and a corrupt top-down system.
Corruption in the forestry sector is strongly influenced by the political system, OPTA says. Political decisions take precedence over technical decisions and legitimate demands for environmental and social protection. The Ortega-Murillo regime has made 13 environmental legislative modifications to justify corrupt actions and violations of the legal framework, creating a false appearance of legality.
In addition, Forests for Sale reveals that Nicaragua has 110 forestry companies distributed throughout the country. The highest concentration is in Nueva Segovia (30 percent), followed by the North Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region (17 percent), Estelí (9 percent), the South Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region (8 percent), Chontales (6 percent), and the rest of the departments (30 percent). In 2022, the regime granted 1,007 permits for timber extraction to several companies, mostly foreign.
China
“China became one of the main actors in this scenario, with companies holding permits to export timber from Nicaragua,” Ruiz said. “This situation is worrisome, because any company that wants to invest or operate in the country must go through the regime’s filters, which implies being aligned with them or having agreements under the table to process an operating license.”
Determining the level of involvement of Chinese consortiums in the extraction, processing, or export of resources in Nicaragua can be complex, Ruiz said. “Many of these corporations operate through Nicaraguan companies and front companies that carry out logging, with Chinese intermediaries that do not appear in the records, which makes it difficult to trace and identify those responsible.”
“The deforestation panorama becomes more complex with the arrival of this new actor, China, which significantly increased its presence in Latin America in recent years,” Ruiz added. “It entered the Nicaraguan scenario with a particular strategy, with companies characterized by having Chinese officials as shareholders and by being aligned with the economic policies of the Chinese Communist Party.”
Beijing not only contributes to the existing concern but intensifies it considerably. “The characteristics of its companies, coupled with its track record in the region, raise fears that Nicaragua’s environmental and social situation will deteriorate even further,” Ruiz said. “Deforestation could accelerate, ecosystems could suffer irreparable damage, and local communities could be further affected.”
Granadillo
Illegal timber extraction accounts for 25 to 40 percent of the forestry sector’s profits each year, according to OPTA’s research. One of the most sought-after woods in China is the granadillo tree, or palosangre, used to make musical instruments and yacht boards. Since 2012, Managua has been massively exporting this wood to the Chinese market, Nicaraguan newspaper Confidencial reported.
The demand unleashed the illegal trafficking of granadillo through the falsification of forestry guides, trafficking the wood camouflaged among other goods checked by customs such as beans or different tubers. These operations are linked to mafias operated by Chinese citizens through front men. According to Confidencial, the Nicaraguan granadillo fever began after the forestry blockade imposed on China in other countries of the region.
Armed groups in the region cut the precious wood on the edge of the North Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region, making it an important stopover for organized crime and drug shipments. Residents of the region’s original villages complain about the influx of these traffickers, investigative organization dedicated to organized crime InSight Crime reported.
“We have no one to turn to. We are threatened by the regime and by armed people who take over our forest lands, displace us, murder, and rape our people,” said the former leader of the Miskito people. “The Bosawás Biosphere Reserve, where timber is illegally extracted, used to be the lungs of Central America; now it’s a shell.”
International support
To support Nicaraguan society in its forest auditing and control efforts, international bodies should join efforts to demand that all financial and investment entities operating in Nicaragua establish comprehensive systems of access to public information on all their projects, providing details beyond general documents, Ruiz said.
“It is crucial that all information on financing directed to Nicaragua be subject to rigorous and public scrutiny, so that citizens and specialized organizations have access to detailed documentation, which facilitates independent monitoring of the financing processes and the mergers carried out by the regime, so that they are not used as welfare perks to stay in power,” Ruiz concluded.
