Monkey Point, Nicaragua -- The second military helicopter in as many days hovered over the jungle and then landed to a most unwelcome reception from several dozen angry Rama Indian and Creole villagers.

    Rupert Allen Clear Duncan, a leader of some 400 Creole who live along the shoreline, confronted the foreigners, who were dressed in suits and military uniforms that day in March. The villagers demanded to know the purpose of these aerial trespasses.

    “This is our land; we have always lived here, and you don’t have our permission to be here,” Duncan spat, when refused the courtesy of an explanation.

    Not until Duncan threatened to have his machete-waving followers damage the aircraft did they learn that some of the men were from the Islamic Republic of Iran and had come promising to establish a Central American foothold in the middle of their territory.

    As part of a new partnership with Nicaragua’s Sandinista President Daniel Ortega, Iran and its Venezuelan allies plan to help finance a $350 million deep-water port at Monkey Point on the wild Caribbean shore, and then plow a connecting “dry canal” corridor of pipelines, rails and highways across the country to the populous Pacific coast. Iran recently established an embassy in Nicaragua’s capital.

    In feeling threatened by Iran’s ambitions, the people of Monkey Point have powerful company. READ THE REST HERE IN THE SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS...

See video and photo display of Monkey Point, a way of life at risk.