by A charter plane bound for Nicaragua has brought renewed attention to the Central American nation’s role as a springboard for migrants from around the world trying to make their way to the United States in France.
The flight, which left the United Arab Emirates on December 21 with 303 passengers of Indian nationality, was grounded during a refueling stop following an anonymous tip-off alleging human trafficking.
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The passengers, however, were not being trafficked against their will, rather they were trying to emigrate.
Nicaragua is the closest land-linked country to the United States and does not have strict entry requirements for citizens of many nations who are prohibited from flying to other destinations without a visa.
While some countries have imposed visa requirements on certain nationalities under pressure from Washington, experts say Nicaraguan president Daniel Ortega has taken a counterintuitive approach in an attempt to weaponize migration and force negotiations to impose sanctions. on members of his inner circle.
“Ortega is very curious to play with the things that hurt the United States the most,” said Ana María Méndez, director of Central America at the Washington Office on Latin America, referring to the current migrant crisis and political liability which she shows to President Joe. Biden going into the 2024 election. “It’s like pouring alcohol on an open wound.”
In 2014, with another migrant crisis brewing, Nicaragua imposed visa requirements on Cuban citizens to help stem the flow of migrants heading to the US border. But since then, relations between the two countries have deteriorated due to Ortega’s rigging of the 2021 election and numerous human rights abuses.
Following political unrest in Cuba during the summer of 2021, Ortega canceled the visa requirements for Cuban citizens. The charter flights from the island were started soon after as an “escape valve” for the Cuban government, which would cause people to leave instead of protesting on the streets, Méndez explained.
Eventually, people from other nations, like Haiti, followed suit to shorten their journey to the United States and avoid the treacherous Darién Gap route along Panama’s southern border.
Related: Cuban health and education came to an end as the staff joined an emigration exodus
Because of the frosty relationship with Ortega, the Biden administration has tried to work across the Nicaraguan government to stop the charter flights filled with migrants coming from further afield.
On October 30, the Haitian government enacted a ban on charter flights to Nicaragua, which had transported around 30,000 people in the previous three months. As a result, there was a significant reduction in the number of Haitians traveling north by land through Honduras in November.
Then, on November 21, the state department announced a new visa restriction policy targeting “owners, executives, and/or senior officers of companies that provide charter flights to Nicaragua designed primarily for use by irregular migrants to to the United States”.
Many charter companies have stopped flights, but some seem to have been overwhelmed. That included Romania-based Legend Airlines, which launched the first direct flight from Europe to Nicaragua in recent years and was responsible for the plane being detained in France.
The flight from France was eventually returned to India, minus two passengers who were detained for further investigation and 25 others who decided to seek asylum rather than return to their home country.
India launched its own investigation into the flight, which passengers paid between $48,000 and $150,000 to board, an Indian police official told AFP. About 100,000 Indian nationals arrived at the US-Mexico border in 2023, more than 10 times the number in 2019.
Meanwhile, flights from Cuba continue to arrive in Managua via an airline owned by the Venezuelan government, which is less concerned about sanctions but is also engaged in its own negotiations with the White House after relations were severed during an administration the former president. Donald Trump.
On social media, supposed travel agencies advertise flights on the Venezuelan airline from Havana to Managua for around $1,500, as well as all-inclusive packages for $4,000 and up that include services such as transportation to Mexico, meals, accommodation and even assistance with the launch of the US Customs and Border Protection CBP One App, which migrants use, among other things, to make appointments to apply for asylum.
“The airlines and travel agencies that are facilitating this are the new coyotes,” said Méndez, using a term for illegal people smugglers.
