High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Río San Juan is a department in Nicaragua. It was formed in 1957 from parts of Chontales and Zelaya. It covers an area of 7,473 km² and has a population of 95,500 (2005 census). The capital is San Carlos. The Department also includes the Archipelago of Solentiname and the San Juan River, after which it is named. The San Juan River (Spanish: Río San Juan) is a 192.06 km (119.7mi) river that flows east out of Lake Nicaragua into the Caribbean Sea. A large section of the the border between Nicaragua and Costa Rica runs on the right bank of the river. It was part, with the lake, of a proposed route for a Nicaragua Canal in the 19th century. The idea of the project has been revived in the last decade, including the possibility of other routes within the country. The Ecocanal project has obtained a Concession from the National Assembly of Nicaragua to re-open the San Juan River to commercial barge traffic.