Nicaragua’s communist regime collected more than 359 million Nicaraguan córdobas (roughly $9.76 million) in “safe-passage” fees from U.S.-bound migrants that pass through its territory as of June, the local newspaper Confidencial reported on Monday.
The nearly $10 million collected between January and June already represents 163 percent of the regime’s established goal for that income.
Since 2022, communist dictator Daniel Ortega has engaged in a policy widely derided as the “weaponization” of migrants against the United States, sporting near non-existent entry visa requirements and allowing U.S.-bound migrants from Latin America, Africa, and Asia to pass through the Central American nation. Additionally, the Ortega regime authorized charter flight routes connecting it to countries such as Libya, capable of transporting hundreds of migrants per flight.
Experts have speculated that Ortega is seeking to force Washington into talks toward potential U.S. sanctions reliefs for his communist regime.
As part of the dictator’s plans, the Ortega regime is charging migrants taxes and other fees for the use of the facilities of Managua’s international airport, presently the country’s only international terminal. The communist regime received several loans from China in 2024, including a $400 million loan for the renovation of an abandoned military airport that Ortega aims to turn into Nicaragua’s second international airport.
Ortega’s use of migrants against the United States has also resulted in record profits for the nation’s airport authority that have allowed it to overturn more than ten years of continued fiscal deficits.
Confidencial’s report stated that the nearly $10 million collected by Nicaragua’s General Directorate of Migration and Immigration (DGME) during the first six months of 2024 came from the collection of “safe-passage” fines imposed on migrants seeking to reach the United States, who are charged with an amount ranging from $150-200 per person to be able to pass through the country.
The “safe-passage” fines, according to Confidencial, are concealed by DGME’s income reports under the “other service fees” category, which, the newspaper explains, is a category whose origin has not been properly justified by the corresponding authorities.
During 2023, DGME was reportedly able to collect more than 1.664 billion Nicaraguan córdobas (roughly $45.2 million) in fines and other miscellaneous charges to migrants, of which the “safe-passage” fine amounted to 64.3 percent of the total collected during that year.
Confidencial stated that the Ortega regime projected that it would collect roughly 586 million córdobas across all fines and charges to migrants throughout 2024 but that it had already collected 96.9 percent of the total by June.
The newspaper explained that, despite having surpassed its “safe-passage” fine goals, the amount collected represents a decrease compared to the same period in 2023, when DGME collected 666 million córdobas ($18 million) in those funds.
The reduction, Confidencial further explained, is due to the U.S. exposing Ortegas’s migrant business practices and accusing the dictator of “facilitating the smuggling and trafficking of persons” through Nicaragua.
The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden, in an effort to curb the flow of migrants coming from Nicaragua, imposed sanctions against Nicaraguan-based charter flight airlines and their executives and has issued warnings to airlines suggesting they undergo proper vetting processes to “avoid complicity” with U.S.-bound migration from Nicaragua.
A report published by the Nicaraguan newspaper La Prensa in June stated that the Biden administration’s efforts have “been insufficient” and that the flow of migrants coming from Nicaragua has remained “constant and almost unchanged” since 2023 when more than 300,000 migrants arrived in Nicaragua by air before continuing their journey toward the United States.
If the trend remains unchanged, La Prensa warned in June, Ortega “will have easily put” almost one million migrants in the United States by the end of 2024 since the start of its plans in 2022.
The Ortega regime has also been able to experience record profits through remittances sent by Nicaraguans who fled from their country to their friends and family back home. During the first five months of 2024, Nicaragua received more than $2 billion in remittances, of which $1.688 billion were sent from the United States.
The money received by Nicaraguans is often used to pay for goods and services locally, which are subject to taxation, allowing the Ortega regime to alleviate its troubled budget as well as fund its repression of dissidents and collaborate with rogue regimes — such as China, Russia, and Iran.
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.