CAMPESINADO

Life explodes from volcanic soils on Ometepe Island and along the muddy riverbanks of the Punta Gorda River. Lush forest and hillsides spill out into the Caribbean Sea. The people who have made their homes in this land vow to never leave. They are farmers and cowboys, mestizo and indigenous, young girls and grandmothers, the campesinado. Distinguished by their their tight knit families, wisdom in working the land and their determination to make something, anything, out of nothing and against all odds, they forge an existence out of the dense jungle. They are fighters and survivors in the Punta Gorda River region where an estimated 300,000 campesinos live and work and are under threat of being evicted from their land; they are taking a stand.

The Nicaraguan Grand Canal project was proposed in 2014 to unite the Pacific and Caribbean oceans with a canal that would rival the Panama canal. It promised to bring development to the economically stilted nation by making it an artery in global trade. It has devolved into a broken deal with foreign businessmen and the Nicaraguan government to claim land along the route of the proposed canal by using newly created laws. But the area in question is already a bustling trade route. Thousands of farmers, ranchers and fishermen who use the Punta Gorda River and its subsidiaries to move milk, cheese, fish, quequisque, yucca, plantains, vegetables, animals and goods maintain a true local food economy. While deforestation due to cattle ranching has transformed the landscape, the people depend on the rivers and the forest for their very subsistence and are its very conservationists. Since the announcement of the Gran Canal Project in 2014, there have been over one hundred and twenty protests against it. The proposed canal would cut through the Punta Gorda River region and Cocibolca, or Lake Nicaragua, Central America’s largest freshwater lake.

There is a more complex issue engulfing the communities that inhabit the Punta Gorda River region however. In the early 1990’s, many US supported Contra fighters opposing the new Sandinista government gave up their weapons in exchange for land in the Southern Atlantic Autonomous Region (RAAS). “Autonomous” signifying rule by the country’s large indigenous populations Rama, Miskito, Suma and Mayagna. The agreement immediately created a land conflict. Over the ensuing two decades the former Contras began to populate the region, expanding the agricultural frontier into the resource rich Punta Gorda River national reserve and traditional home to the Rama nation. Many Rama people were pressured, sometimes violently, out of the region to the Caribbean coast, or sold off their own lands to these newcomers arriving in mass, but a coexistence developed between the original people and the campesinos.

As Central America paces towards modernity in many aspects and gives up its younger, determined populations to the North through immigration, Nicaragua has maintained something unique. It is not losing a large portion of its young men and women to the United States, like many of its neighbors El Salvador and Honduras. Rather, most Nicaraguans, particularly campesinos, are dedicated to their land and their country, despite the gross poverty and lack of economic opportunity. In a region plagued by gang violence and narco-trafficking, Nicaragua is home to hundreds of thousands of young men and women continuing the traditions of farming their family land.

The fight against the proposed canal has become an unlikely opportunity for the multi-ethnic communities to unite and work towards conservation of their region, environmentally and culturally. Together, they are sounding an alarm to the world, resisting the potential destruction of their lands and their cultures. The campesinado is alive.

Work commissioned by Amnesty International in June of 2016.

Download full Amnesty International report here.

Concepcion Volcano, Ometepe, Nicaragua rises through plantain plantations. Ometepe's main export is plantains and exports to El Salvador and Honduras in addition to nationally.

Eliezer Jose Ugoster, 16, at his father's plantain plantation, in Santa Teresa, Ometepe. Their land is under threat to be confiscated by the governemnt if the Grand Canal project goes through.

Workers at a plantain plantation, in Santa Teresa, Ometepe Their land is under threat to be confiscated by the governemnt if the Grand Canal project goes through

Egdomilia Mora Hernandez at home with her husband. A native of Ometepe Island, she promises to defend her land to the death if the government forces her and her family off of it due to construction of the Interoceanic Canal.

A babtism on the shores of Lake Nicaragua with the twin peaks of Ometepe Island in the distance near Rivas, Nicaragua

"Arboles de Vida" or "trees of life" stand tall and colorful, built by the government in Managua, Nicaragua

Local farmers gather and prepare to sell at a market day in Palo Bonito on the banks of the Punta Gorda river in the early morning. If the Gran Canal project were to go forward, the river would be dredged as a shipping lane for cargo ships to pass from the Caribbean to the Pacific, removing farmer and indigenous communities.

Esteban Fajardo, 60, of Provenir RAAS, with his horses where he has come to sell products at a market day in Palo Bonito on the banks of the Punta Gorda river in the early morning. If the Gran Canal project were to go forward, the river would be dredged as a shipping lane for cargo ships to pass from the Caribbean to the Pacific, removing farmer and indigenous communities.

Francisca "Chica" Ramirez, an anti canal leader among campesinos in El Roble, Rio San Juan, gathers local campesinos together to inspire their attendance at the upcoming protest in El Tule.

Women and children sit quietly and listen to their husbands speaking with Francisca "Chica" Ramirez as they discuss upcoming protest and potential forced displacement from their lands due to the Interoceanic Canal megaproject in El Roble, Rio San Juan, Nicaragua

People and their livestock cross the bridge uniting the two sides of the community of Polo Dearollo on the Punta Gorda River. If the Gran Canal project were to go forward, the river would be dredged as a shipping lane for cargo ships to pass from the Caribbean to the Pacific, removing farmer and indigenous communities.

Medardo Mairena of Punta Gorda, RAAS, Nicaragua, leader of the Consejo Nacional anti canal movement visits communities along the banks of the Punta Gorda river. If the Gran Canal project were to go forward, the river would be dredged as a shipping lane for cargo ships to pass from the Caribbean to the Pacific, removing farmer and indigenous communities.

Medardo Mairena of Punta Gorda and Pedro Mena of La Fonseca, leaders of the Consejo Nacional anti canal movement visit communities to speak with farmers along the banks of the Punta Gorda river. Pictured here at the home of Sr. Escalon with his son in Masayon, RAAS, Nicaragua. If the Gran Canal project were to go forward, the river would be dredged as a shipping lane for cargo ships to pass from the Caribbean to the Pacific, removing farmer and indigenous communities.

A man travels by boat to buy freshly produced milk from famers in the Paolo Bonito community on the Punta Gorda river in the early morning. If the Gran Canal project were to go forward, the river would be dredged as a shipping lane for cargo ships to pass from the Caribbean to the Pacific, removing farmer and indigenous communities.

Javier Carmona eats breakfast with his sons Elder and Marcos the morning of a protest in nearby El Tule against the Nicaraguan Canal project and the Ley 840. Javier, a community leader and organizer with the Consejo Nacional which is fighting against the Ley 840 and the proposed Canal project by the government in order to protect their land. The proposed route and 20 km band of expropriation places his land under threat.

Manuel Aviles working on his farm with his sons. On December 24, 2015 while participating in an anti canal protest in El Tule, he was arrested and taken to El Chipote prison in Managua, where he was beaten by police. Taken in El Jicaro, RAAS, Nicaragua. June 12, 2016.

Javier Carmona teaches his youngest sons Bernni and Jelver to milk the cows the morning before a protest against the Nicaraguan Canal. Javier, a community leader and organizer with the Consejo Nacional which is fighting against the Ley 840 and the proposed Canal project by the governemnt in order to protect their land

Driving out of El Roble back to Nueva Guinea, RAAS, Nicaragua

Javier Carmona speaks to fellow campesinos at a protest against the Ley 840 and the Nicaraguan Canal project which could expropriate tens of thousands of families' property's most of whom are small farmers, or campesinos. The protest in El Tule is on the same site as the protest on December 24, 2015 when police violently dispersed protesters with rubber bullets and tear gas, wounding multiple people including shooting out the eye of one man, and arresting more than 25 people. El Tule, Rio San Juan, Nicaragua,

Trying to keep dry, crowds huddle under umbrellas and a small structure which has been spray painted "No Canal, No Law 840" and "Daniel Ortega sells our country" at a protest against the Ley 840 and the Nicaraguan Canal project which could expropriate tens of thousands of families' property's most of whom are small farmers, or campesinos. The protest in El Tule is on the same site as the protest on December 24, 2015 when police violently dispersed protesters with rubber bullets and tear gas, wounding multiple people including shooting out the eye of one man, and arresting more than 25 people.

Members of the Consejo Nacional pass out mangos to hungry protesters at a protest against the Ley 840 and the Nicaraguan Canal project which could expropriate tens of thousands of familes' property's most of whom are small farmers, or campesinos. The protest in El Tule is on the same site as the protest on December 24, 2015 when police violently dispersed protesters with rubber bullets and tear gas, wounding multiple poeple including shooting out the eye of one man, and arresting more than 25 people. El Tule, Rio San Juan, Nicaragua

Trying to keep dry, crowds huddle under umbrellas and a small structure which has been spray panted "No Canal, No Law 840" and "Daniel Ortega sells our country" at a protest against the Ley 840 and the Nicaraguan Canal project which could expropriate tens of thousands of familes' property's most of whom are small farmers, or campesinos. The protest in El Tule is on the same site as the protest on December 24, 2015 when police violently dispersed protesters with rubber bullets and tear gas, wounding multiple people including shooting out the eye of one man, and arresting more than 25 people.

Fisherman paddle back to shore from a shrimping boat off the coast of Monkey point, an afro-kriol community on Nicaragua's southeastern Caribbean coast.

Children of the indigenous Rama community of Bankukuk, on Nicaragua's southeastern Caribbean coast play on the beach on June 18, 2016

Wendy Quinn, 24, vice-president of Monkey point, and Ligia Bridgette McElroy return to their village on horseback after planting rice with other community members on her farm near their community, an afro-kriol community on Nicaragua's southeastern Caribbean coast.

renor Jose Gonsales Rivas, 19 and his wife Irma Aguilar Garcia with their son at a market day in Palo Bonito where they sell goods on the banks of the Punta Gorda river in the early morning. If the Gran Canal project were to go forward, the river would be dredged as a shipping lane for cargo ships to pass from the Caribbean to the Pacific, removing farmer and indigenous communities.

On the shores of Lake Nicaragua with the twin peaks of Ometepe Island in the distance near Rivas, Nicaragua

All photographs copyright Tom Laffay. Any use requires explicit authorization. Thank you.