Whoa, this is serious... The real reason behind the Nicaraguan invasion into Costa Rica!!!

Is that why we just recently sent a bunch of warships down there? Anyone else remember that thread?

Don't think so, they are already gone I think.

been seeing ads for expats trying to sell out their CR properties. good luck now.

All 37 locals?

+ Canada military, and more than likely the US military if Iran/Venezuela are really involved in this...

If this is true, you can bet your ass Venezuela and Nicaragua are gonna be attacked.

No way in hell they will allow this.

It was late last spring aroud the time of the Gulf Oil disaster--something like thousands of troops and a lot of warships being sent there. Never heard any govt explanation for why they were there; just something rumored about a training exercise.

Yes, I remember hearing about that canal. We just need to figure out the why of everything. Why did the Bush's and Rev Moon purchase huge amounts of land in Paraguay? Water? Oil?
Maybe both.

[link to www.cco.net]

There really is no point. The panama Canal is mostly an inland lake with 20 miles of man mad canal on one side and 2 miles on the other. In all the total shipping route is about 48 miles. 22 of which is man made.


Nicaragua at its narrowest point will require over 80 miles of man made canal. 60 miles of lake in the middle

So it would take longer to ship through there and would cost more to ship through there.

It is stupid.

Costa Ricans can be very angry and prideful, they will not back down.

If i'm not mistaken, Panama is allied more with the US, which means ultimately countries which oppose the US will need a canal which they can use.

Nicaragua has ties closer to Venezuela / Iran than the US.

If this article is true, I do not see Venezuela nor Iran all of a sudden giving up their plans to create their own canal.

My father in law told me of a dream where he saw war planes flying over Costa Rica, I never would have imaged that a war could start here, so I did not think much of it.

Now, I am not so sure.. strategically this makes sense for Nicaragua/Iran/Venezuela, and I don't see them backing down, nor do I see the US not supporting Costa Rica if this is in fact true.

We all know the US is looking for any excuse possible to get their hands dirty with Iran/Venezuela.

Another rumour :

A Nicaraguan troop commander blamed bad border denotations on Google Maps for an incursion into Costa Rica last week.

According to the commander, a "bug in Google" inspired troops to enter an area near the long-contested border, remove Costa Rica's flag and raise its own. The "bug" quickly blew up into an international event, with the Organization of American States and the UN Security Council getting involved, and the search giant "fixing" the map.

"We determined that there was indeed an error in the compilation of the source data, by up to 2.7 kilometers," wrote Google Geo Policy Analyst Charlie Hale in the company's blog. "The U.S. Department of State has provided a corrected version and we are now working to update our maps." This assertion matches the official maps of both Costa Rica and Nicaragua.

Still, neither country is entirely satisfied with the resolution. Nicaragua asked Google not to make the correction, according to an AFP news story. "I officially request that (the border marking) not be modified," Foreign Minister Samuel Santos asked Google representative Jeffrey Hardy.

[link to technolog.msnbc.msn.com]

Wasn't this part of the plot in the recent Bond movie?

The US troops have left Panama. The canal is in Chinese hands. Chinese troops are there. America invaded Panama.

More likely, the Americans are behind the new canal.

Just by looking at a map, it looks like Nicaragua would be the place to put a canal. It has a monster lake in it.

I hate the fact, that Costa Rica is invaded - my son was one year ago in Costa Rica, this proud country without an army, and it was very awsome for him!
I thought by myself: How long will the USA keep Costa Rica without an invasion? It is not normal, that they let them live like they want to! - You know, Costa Rica is only a little bit smaler than Czech Republic and a little bit bigger than Bavaria/Germany!
So, it is a very small country.
I am very sad about this new bad infos!

Chinese troops at the canal?

Are you joking?

Those S. American red couldn't build a canal if their life depended on it. That requires equipment and engineers and they killed/jailed all their engineers, or the smart ones already left. Good luck with that malaria, thousands will die.

This sucks.

I was about to start planning a 2011 trip through Costa Rica, potentially moving there in the future if i liked it enough.

Why oh why

The Nicaragua Canal was the first proposed canal in Central America and thought to be the easiest to build in 1849. It was approved by congress but then filibustered by William Walker (who somehow invaded and became president of Nicaragua at the time?).

Anyway, those opposed to the Nicaragua Canal said that they were a barbaric and violent country because at the time they had a volcano on their flag (among other things). And those barbarians would attack our ships. Of course it was just a smear campaign to get the canal built in Panama instead for whatever reason.

The land that was acquired was not purchased by the Bushes per se. It was actually "acquired" by one of the Bush daughters under the auspices of nature preservation or some charitable load of crap similar to that. As has been noted several times before around here, the region where this land sits is above one of the world's largest remaining natural underground aquifers.

Don't stop your dream because of them. Just get insurance on your tickets.

But I personally recommend the Peten region of Guatemala. That is real life.

Ever heard of digging canals using Nukes for the explosives? Check into Operation Plowshare and find out.. plans were to use a bunch of underground nukes to cut a fully sea-level 1,000 foot wide canal through Nicaragua, or at least that was one plan that Operation Plowshare was testing for.

At sea level and 1,000 foot wide, with no locks to go through, travel through such a canal would be vastly faster, safer and cheaper than using the Panama Canal is today.

Time to wake up, Rip Van Winkle.

nothing has changed here. come on down. the Nica thing will blow over after a few days.

Wouldn't fallout wreck the river and then the ocean for years? Must be a snag with this.

Not if this is true, and Iran/Venezuela are backing Nicaragua.

Lets see if Nicaragua leaves by the end of the deadline today...

My guess is no, they have absolutely no intentions on leaving..

Do you really think this country will just decide to give away a part of its land?

very interesting

Guatemala looks like a better place for a canal. Anybody got Hugo's phone number?

The reality is that the Pacific and Atlantic are at DIFFERENT levels in that region so a "Sea Level" canal would still require at least one set of locks or the canal would turn into a giant fast flowing river of salt water.

Panama is well on the way in it's construction of a bigger canal and bigger locks with it's canal which are tentatively scheduled for completion in 2014:

"The current plan is for two new flights of locks to be built parallel to, and operated in addition to, the old locks: one to the east of the existing Gatún locks, and one south west of Miraflores locks, each supported by approach channels. Each flight will ascend from ocean level direct to the Gatún Lake level; the existing two-stage ascent at Miraflores / Pedro Miguel will not be replicated. The new lock chambers will feature sliding gates, doubled for safety, and will be 427 meters (1,400 ft) long, 55 meters (180 ft) wide, and 18.3 meters (60 ft) deep; this will allow the transit of vessels with a beam of up to 49 meters (160 ft), an overall length of up to 366 meters (1,200 ft) and a draft of up to 15 meters (50 ft), equivalent to a container ship carrying around 12,000 twenty-foot (6.1 m) long containers (TEU)." [link to en.wikipedia.org]