Nicaragua uses migration as a “political weapon” to pressure the US, according to experts

The Nicaraguan government, an ally of China and Russia, uses irregular migration as a “political weapon” to pressure the United States as part of the global “hybrid war,” Nicaraguan experts and opponents concluded.

“This strategy is part of what several experts call ‘hybrid warfare,’ where migration is not only a consequence of internal crises, but a geopolitical tool to destabilize target countries,” said former Nicaraguan Vice Foreign Minister José Pallais during the virtual panel ‘Manipulated Exoduses: The Use of Migration as a Weapon of Political Warfare in the Age of Authoritarianism.’

During the panel, organized by the Expediente Abierto think tank, Pallais, who was released from prison and deprived of his nationality by Nicaraguan authorities in February 2023, argued that the US has criticized the open-door policy applied by Daniel Ortega’s government to facilitate irregular migration to his country through Managua, where charter flights from countries in Africa, Asia and Europe land.

“The regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo in Nicaragua has been accused of using migration as a political weapon to pressure the United States, in coordination with powers such as Russia and China,” said the lawyer and former Nicaraguan deputy.

For his part, the former correspondent of the newspaper El Periódico in Moscow and another of the panelists, the Spaniard Marc Marginedas, noted that the strategy of the Nicaraguan Executive has similarities with the “tactics” used by the Belarusian president, Alexander Lukashenko, “who has allowed the entry of irregular migrants to Europe as a form of political pressure.”

“In both cases, there is evidence of close coordination with Moscow,” said Marginedas, who believes the Kremlin’s goal is to create “chaos” on the borders of the United States, especially in the context of the presidential elections in November.

“Russia has a clear interest in creating instability on the southern border of the United States,” he said.

Has migration become a geopolitical instrument?

Meanwhile, Argentine writer, journalist and political analyst Ignacio Montes de Oca observed that “massive migration from countries with authoritarian regimes and failed economies, such as Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua itself, is an undeniable reality.”

According to Montes de Oca, the departure of more than 7.7 million Venezuelans, 4 million Cubans and 1.4 million Nicaraguans reflects the collapse of these States.

However, despite the criticism that could arise from mass migration, Montes de Oca stressed that this situation also represents an economic benefit for these governments, since the remittances sent by migrants have become an important source of income.

However, far from being simply a humanitarian or economic crisis, migration has become a geopolitical instrument with profound implications for international politics, according to the panellists.

President Joe Biden’s administration has been warning about Cuban, Haitian and African migrants using charter flights to Nicaragua and then traveling by land to the U.S.-Mexico border.

In late February, the Biden administration announced it would expand visa restrictions for air, land, and sea transportation operators that facilitate migrant flights to Nicaragua.

The route through the Central American country has experienced a significant increase in recent times, according to official data.

Over the past two years, the Nicaraguan government has established visa-free agreements with African countries.

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