Activists renew calls for controversial US$50 billion Nicaragua Canal project to be cancelled as Chinese tycoon’s cash runs dry

After sealing a US$50 billion deal for an ambitious canal to be built in Nicaragua, President Daniel Ortega and Chinese billionaire Wang Jing posed triumphantly in front of cameras on June 14, 2013.Wang’s Hong Kong-based HKND Group had been granted a concession to build and operate the Nicaragua Canal for 50 years – with the option of a further 50-year extension.The firm had a grand vision for the new waterway: it would be twice as deep and three times longer than the famous 82km Panama Canal,…