On July 7, roughly 500 members of Jinotega, an indigenous community, and the communal movements of the northern-Nicaraguan departments of Jinotega and Matagalpa marched between the Planta Centroamerica hydroelectric facility and the town of Jintotega to protest the proposed privatization of Lake Apanas. The artificial lake was created in 1961 with the construction of the largest hydroelectric plant in Nicaragua, which provides one-quarter of the country's electricity.
The indigenous protesters also demanded compensation for the 52 square kilometers of indigenous land that were flooded by the state-run Hidroelectrica de Generacion S.A. to create the lake. The protest was the first of many scheduled against government attempts to privatize water resources. Protestors cited President Bolano's promise of May 2003: Lake Apanas would not be privatized, and Jinatego would be compensated for their loss of land. So far, under pressure from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to privatize energy resources, Nicaragua has not followed through with these promises.
