Nicaragua is 'weaponizing' US-bound migrants as Haitians pour in on charter flights, observers say

Source: Associated Press

Nicaragua is ‘weaponizing’ US-bound migrants as Haitians pour in on charter flights, observers say

BY MEGAN JANETSKY
Updated 8:59 PM EDT, October 24, 2023

MEXICO CITY (AP) — More than 260 charter flights believed to be carrying migrants from Haiti have touched down in Nicaragua in recent months, according to flight data and experts in the region, adding to a historic crush of migration by people hoping to reach the U.S.

The flow of migrants has left the Biden administration and Latin American leaders scrambling for solutions, and experts say it’s also being used as leverage by governments like Nicaragua’s to get concessions from the U.S. amid tightening sanctions.

“The Ortega government knows they have few important policy tools at hand to confront the United States, ... so they have armed migration as a way to attack,” said Manuel Orozco, director of the migration, remittances and development program at the Inter-American Dialogue. “This is definitely a concrete example of weaponizing migration as a foreign policy.”

Nicaragua has long been used as a migratory springboard for people fleeing struggling Caribbean nations like Cuba and Haiti as well as countries as far away as Mauritania in Africa, because it is one of the few countries that doesn’t require visas for many of them to enter.

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Read more: https://apnews.com/article/cuba-nicaragua-migration-charter-flights-daniel-ortega-3abf2fc16e51e86eb8b25c913b8ec464