By John Perry

(John Perry is based in Masaya, Nicaragua, and writes for the Council on Hemispheric Affairs, London Review of Books, FAIR, Covert Action Magazine and others. This article was first published in Popular Resistance Magazine.)

Claims that Nicaragua is “weaponizing” immigration by allowing free passage of migrants towards the U.S. border have been appearing regularly in the media over the last twelve months. The claim was made on NPR in January, in the Associated Press last October, in El Pais last November and by the BBC this July, to cite just a few. In May, the Biden administration accused the Nicaraguan government (the “Ortega-Murillo regime”) of “repressing people and preying on migrants,” imposing new sanctions on those it believed responsible. Is there any basis to these claims?

Behind all such stories is Manuel Orozco of The Inter-American Dialogue, who has been accusing his former country of “weaponizing” immigration since at least early 2023. Orozco’s most recent appearance is in an article by Robert Looney for World Politics Review (WPR), which quotes him extensively. Orozco’s main argument is summarized in this sentence by Looney:

“Unlike other Central American countries that have implemented more stringent visa regulations to control migration to the U.S., Managua permits citizens from around 90 countries to enter visa-free, allowing them to bypass the dangerous Darien Gap route through Panama on their way north.”

Let’s take a look at what this really means.

First, it’s true that Nicaragua does allow migrants from different countries to arrive without visas, some of them on charter flights, also allowing them to head north towards the U.S. However, it is not the only country to do so: Brazil does too, and El Salvador gives passage to many foreign nationals, albeit with high visa fees.

Furthermore, while Mexico and Guatemala have taken steps to deter migrants, other Central American countries allow them to pass through freely – such as Honduras, Costa Rica and (until recently) Panama. In the latter case, migrants arriving from Colombia through the notoriously dangerous Darién Gap have been obliged to take buses north to Panama’s border with Costa Rica, facilitating their rapid passage through the country.

Second, for many migrants transiting Nicaragua the only realistic alternative to arriving in Managua by air is to start their journey in South America and cross the Darién Gap, where at least 141 migrants died in 2023 alone. Indeed, a recent report by Human Rights Watch decries the neglect by countries in the region of the extreme dangers facing migrants in Darién, and calls for safe alternatives. Enabling people who are determined to reach the U.S. border to avoid facing these dangers by landing in Managua is surely one of them.

Third, WPR claims that the landing fees and visa charges linked to migrant charter flights primarily benefit the “Ortegas and their associates” rather than stimulating broader economic development. This is a completely evidence-free statement, since the fees collected at Nicaraguan border controls enter the government’s general revenue accounts, as they would in most countries. Nicaraguan government spending strongly prioritizes poverty reduction and investment in public services (unlike the US federal budget, over 40% of which goes to defense spending).

In reality, Nicaragua is picked out by Washington, and sanctioned, because “weaponizing” immigration is a convenient addition to U.S. criticisms of the Sandinista government. When other countries facilitate the passage of migrants by land, the Biden administration turns a blind eye.

What is remarkable is that WPR and similar articles in mainstream media simply accept the premise that it is entirely reasonable for Washington to expect Nicaragua’s help in deterring migrants. This ignores the fact that the Ortega government’s lack of cooperation might be an understandable response to the Biden administration’s unremitting public attacks and, more especially, economic sanctions, which have led to cuts in its development programs of at least $2,500-3,000 million over the past five years.

Washington’s brazen arrogance in expecting Nicaragua’s assistance while doing its best to undermine its government is perhaps not surprising, but might at least be questioned by the media. The administration’s actions might reasonably be noted as an obstacle to cooperation and a possible explanation for Nicaragua’s indifference. Instead, Nicaragua is even accused (by the Christian Science Monitor) of using migration as a “bargaining tool” to get concessions from Washington (which, if it were true, would have been a remarkably unsuccessful tactic on the part of the Ortega government).

There is another, related charge made against Nicaragua by the WPR and in other articles: that its government is actively “encouraging the emigration of Nicaraguans” themselves, because of high unemployment levels in their homeland and because they will send money (“remittances”) to their Nicaraguan families. Supposedly, remittances are “a crucial source of revenue preventing the collapse of the Nicaraguan economy.”

There is little or no evidence to support this argument either. While Nicaragua does not prevent its citizens from migrating, it certainly does not encourage them. Indeed, given that the whole emphasis of government spending is on poverty reduction and the provision of better health, education and housing for its inhabitants, achievements that are promoted enthusiastically at almost every opportunity, it would be decidedly two-faced if the government were also to encourage Nicaraguans to leave the country.

In another absurd claim, WPR credits Washington with trying to alleviate the “push factors” which might tempt Nicaraguans to migrate, giving as an example its sanctioning of two of Nicaragua’s gold-mining companies and its imposition of visa restrictions on 250 individual Nicaraguans. Quite how these aggressive measures are expected to disincentivize migration is not made clear. In fact, the prospect of ever tighter U.S. sanctions is a much more likely “push factor”.

If the question arises as to who, then, is encouraging Nicaraguans to leave, at least part of the answer can be found not in Managua but in various “pull factors” created by Washington itself. The U.S. government long gave Nicaraguans arriving at its southern border preferential (so-called “Title 8”) treatment compared with similar arrivals from the rest of Central America, a fact well known to potential migrants. However, for the past two years it has been promoting its more attractive “humanitarian parole” program via regular publicity from the U.S. embassy which is faithfully repeated by opposition media (the same media which two-facedly blame the Sandinista government for encouraging migration).

Surprisingly, and contrary to claims regularly made by Manuel Orozco, Nicaraguan migration north is rather low, despite Washington’s tempting offers. For example, in fiscal year 2023 just 38,113 Nicaraguans were granted “parole”, accounting for only four per cent of all parole cases approved that year (and, of course, not all those granted parole will actually migrate). While it’s also true that Nicaraguans featured strongly for a short period (2021-23) in southern border “encounters” by U.S. agencies, those numbers have returned almost to their previous miniscule levels (2,666 in August 2024, less than two per cent of all encounters). And all this is despite Nicaragua having one of the lowest per-capita incomes in the hemisphere.

A parallel argument from Orozco, which Looney calls Central America’s “forgotten” migrant crisis, is that massive numbers of Nicaraguans have also been forced to go south to Costa Rica. It is true that some 308,000 Nicaraguans have sought asylum since 2018, the vast majority in Costa Rica, but it is also true that its government has been remarkably reluctant to grant their claims, partly because it believes they mostly come from Nicaraguans trying to regularize their status in a country to which they have travelled looking for work. Costa Rica has a fluid population of more than half a million Nicaraguans, on which its economy depends, and its own statistics show that they travel freely back and forth to their home country (over 300,000 did so in the last 12 months, slightly more than travelled in the opposite direction).

Of course, all this could change if Nicaragua were to be at the receiving end of much tougher sanctions, as has happened with countries such as Cuba and Venezuela. When there was a short-lived attempt to encourage a consumer embargo of Nicaraguan meat exports to the U.S. (so-called “conflict beef”), producers said it put the livelihoods of 600,000 Nicaraguan workers at risk. This is perhaps why Washington now only slings insults at Daniel Ortega rather than instigating another coup attempt as it did in 2018. It views the Sandinista government as a severe irritant because it refuses to kowtow to U.S. demands, but it might find a surge of uncontrolled Nicaraguan migration to be far more problematic.

A quick Google search will show that Manuel Orozco’s claims appear very widely in mainstream media. Not surprisingly, his employer, The Inter-American Dialogue, is a think tank funded by the US government, the Ford Foundation and others aligned with U.S. foreign policy. He claims, on the kind of flimsy evidence discussed here, that nearly a quarter of Nicaraguans live abroad, blaming this (of course) on government repression. Yet published statistics show Nicaragua’s population growing almost every year since 1960. As a long-time opponent of Nicaragua’s Sandinista government, Orozco could fairly be accused of “weaponizing” immigration himself.

* * * * *

Briefs
By Nan McCurdy

Hundreds of Women Receive Medical Attention in San Carlos
A mega fair for pregnant women and babies at the Dr. Luis Felipe Moncada Departmental Hospital in San Carlos, Río San Juan, brought hundreds of women from different municipalities to receive free and quality medical attention. This health fair focused on areas such as maternal-fetal medicine (perinatology), obstetrics and gynecology, as well as the treatment of related pathologies. Specialists provided services to mothers and babies, ensuring proper follow-up during pregnancy and postpartum. See photos: https://radiolaprimerisima.com/cientos-de-mujeres-reciben-atencion-en-feria-de-salud-en-san-carlos/ (La Primerisima, 21 September 2024)

Tribute to National Hero Rigoberto López Pérez at Universities
On September 21, Sandinistas honored poet and national hero Rigoberto López Pérez, on the 68th anniversary of his heroic deed in 1956. Douglas Lara, president of UNEN (the National Union of Nicaraguan Students), said that the presence of the different revolutionary youth movements represents a commitment to continue building and following the dreams that led Rigoberto to his heroic action against the dictator Anastasio Somoza García. He continued, “Here is the Sandinista Youth, the Student Movement, remembering our poet, our martyr, our hero Rigoberto Lopez Perez. Jose Benito Escobar said in his book The Beginning of the End that ‘today Nicaraguan youth, committed to our national project, defending peace from the community, from the neighborhood, and from the classrooms, today we say more than ever to Rigoberto: you were not wrong, because now we have the future you envisioned.’ [Editor’s note: Twenty-seven- year-old Rigoberto López Pérez was a poet, artist and composer. He assassinated Anastasio Somoza García, the longtime and first of three Somoza dictators supported by the US. López Pérez was killed by the Somoza National Guard the same day.] (La Primerisima, 21 September 2024)

Rainfall Exceeds Historical Norm in Most of the Country
It has already rained above the historical norm throughout the national territory and rainfall will continue in the coming hours and days, the Nicaraguan Institute of Territorial Studies (INETER) reported on September 26. Director of Meteorology Marcio Baca explained that these atmospheric events had been forecast due to the formation of two cyclonic systems, one in the Caribbean and the other near the coast of Tehuantepec, Mexico. These phenomena have favored the entry of humidity into the country, resulting in significant rainfall since September 19, especially in the Pacific region, where accumulated rainfall in excess of 300 millimeters (11.8 inches) has been recorded. In the last week, soil saturation reached levels exceeding 80% in many areas. Baca warned that “when the soil is saturated, all the rain that falls becomes a current,” which causes flooding of rivers and flooding in different parts of the country. The regions of León and Chinandega are the most affected, followed by Managua, Carazo and Rivas. See photos: https://radiolaprimerisima.com/lluvias-superan-norma-historica-en-todo-el-pais/ (La Primerisima, 25 September 2024)

More Measures to Ensure Clean, Healthy and Safe Markets 
On September 23, the Municipal Markets Corporation of Managua (COMMEMA) will verify strict compliance with a series of provisions to ensure clean, healthy and safe markets. For example: each section of each market must have trash cans with lids for the deposit of waste, according to the characteristics of the businesses, whether dairy, meat, seafood, vegetables, fruits, plastics, mechanical workshops, hardware stores, pharmacies, beauty salons, barber shops or others. Each merchant must keep his section/module/commercial space and its surroundings clean, tidy and beautiful. No merchant should deposit waste in unauthorized sites, nor delegate others for this purpose or a fine will be applied to the owners. Citizens can report any incident with photographs or videos to the environmental complaints line, whatsapp: 84467725. Managua has eight markets. Eastern Market is the most visited and fastest growing with about 170 blocks of businesses and 14,000 merchants. The market includes around 24,000 commercial modules and is visited by up to 100,000 people a day, a number which doubles in high season, with a sales volume of US$8.1 million a day. Eastern Market is followed in size by the Periférico, Mayoreo, Iván Montenegro, Roberto Huembes, Roger Deshón, Israel Lewites and Candelaria. (La Primerisima, 20 September 2024)

CABEI Renews Credit Line to Central Bank for US$200 Million
The Central Bank of Nicaragua (BCN) and the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI) renewed a credit line agreement for up to US$200 million to support the liquidity management of the Central Bank, the institution responsible for the country’s monetary and foreign exchange policy. The renewal of the credit line is consistent with the Central Bank’s objective of strengthening the financial safety net, safeguarding financial stability and contributing to the credibility of the exchange rate regime, a fundamental pillar of Nicaragua’s macroeconomic stability. This is the fifteenth renewal of the credit line agreed with CABEI with a one-year term that started on August 21 of this year. The BCN subscribed to this instrument for the first time on August 21, 2009. The Bank expressed its gratitude for CABEI’s financial support, which will contribute to the stability and promotion of Nicaragua’s economic development. (Informe Pastran, 24 September, 2024)

Night Lighting a Success at New León Stadium
The Rigoberto López Pérez Stadium in León underwent a lighting test on Sunday night as part of the preparations for its inauguration. This emblematic stadium will officially open its doors on Friday, September 27 with an inaugural series between the Caracas Senators and Nicaragua’s Under-23 National Team [which recently won the Bronze Medal at the Baseball World Cup in China. See last week’s NicaNotes]. The new sports infrastructure has the capacity to accommodate 7,278 fans, in addition to a large parking lot with space for 432 light vehicles, 12 buses and 242 motorcycles. See photos:  https://radiolaprimerisima.com/prueba-de-luces-en-nuevo-estadio-de-leon/
(La Primerisima 23 September, 2024)

Mammography Unit for San Juan del Sur Hospital
The Ministry of Health will install a mammography unit on September 24 at the Gaspar García Laviana hospital in the municipality of San Juan del Sur, department of Rivas.

The mammogram is extremely useful for the early diagnosis of breast cancer and the detection of small tumors that cannot be identified by touch. With this equipment, the hospital will perform 5,760 mammograms a year. (La Primerisima, 23 September 2024)

Chinandega Opens Hemodialysis Center
On September 23 the Ministry of Health inaugurated the Germán Pomares Hemodialysis Center in the city of Chinandega. This center has 103 chairs to perform about 2,000 dialysis sessions per week, which will serve 1,000 patients suffering from Chronic Renal Insufficiency, CKD. There are approximately 1,000 hemodialysis centers in the country. See photos: https://radiolaprimerisima.com/chinandega-estrena-centro-de-hemodialisis/ (La Primerisima, 23 September 2024)

Nicaragua Reiterates Principles of Sovereignty and Equality at the UN
Foreign Minister Valdrack Jaentschke stated that the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) must continue to reaffirm its determination and commitment to defend the principles of the sovereignty and equality of states, the self-determination of the world’s peoples, territorial integrity, mutual respect, non-intervention and non-interference in the internal affairs of other states, as well as the peaceful settlement of disputes. Within the framework of the 79th General Assembly of the United Nations, Minister Jaentschke held bilateral meetings with Yván Gil Pinto, Foreign Minister of Venezuela; Abderaman Khou-lamallah, Foreign Minister of Chad, Mohamed Sidati, Foreign Minister of the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic, and others. He also participated in the closing meeting of the Summit of the Future, transmitting a message from the government of Nicaragua, stating that in order to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, it is essential to promote the right to development of all peoples of the world in conditions of equality, as well as to urgently undertake collective actions to strengthen international governance. The Nicaraguan Delegation also attended the Ministerial Meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement, NAM, which was dedicated to the Just Cause of Palestine. (La Primerisima, 24 September 2024)