The dictatorship of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo has taken a 180-degree turn in its immigration policy in recent years. Between 2015 and 2017, before the socio-political crisis of 2018, the Ortega regime closed the passage to Haitian and African migrants, keeping them stuck for months at the southern border, while today it allows entry massive [in transit] of migrants wanting to continue their journey to the United States.

The arrival of migrants of Haitian and African origin in Nicaragua is increasingly significant. Between 10 and 20 flights land daily at Augusto C. Sandino International Airport carrying between 50 and 220 passengers coming from Haiti, the Caicos Islands, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, El Salvador... i.e. between 1,000 and 5,000 passengers daily..

The airlines responsible for commercial flights between Haiti and Nicaragua are AirCentury, Atlantic, Magni, Sarpa Searca, Sky High and Sunrise.

In addition to flights from Port-au-Prince, flights from Providenciales and the Turks and Caicos archipelago have been recorded.

Haitian and African migrants arriving in the country already have their itineraries and the list of services they can obtain to continue their journey to the United States. They use Nicaragua as a transit route to reach the United States and avoid crossing the dangerous Darién jungle.

Some migrants pay $50 per person to reach Nicaragua's northern border and thus cross irregularly into Honduras. Others, with less budget, choose to make the journey on intermunicipal buses, which take them to border municipalities.

Augusto C. Sandino Airport is full of foreign migrants, many of them Haitians. The migrants, who cannot afford a hotel room in the capital, sleep on the floor on the upper floor of the airport with their minor children. Others choose to wait sitting in the airport parking lot or approach carriers to try to hire a transfer service to the northern border.

This week, Nicaragua's Ministry of Foreign Affairs pointed to a "campaign of misleading propaganda and false messages about economic benefits and dreams of a supposedly better life in the United States" that encourages irregular migration to the North.

The Ministry warns that this incitement to irregular migration flows threatens "the lives of migrants and the security of transit communities, but also encourages the actions of organized crime".

S/ HaitiLibre