Nicaragua Shuts Cuba’s Main Migration Route to the U.S. as Ortega-Murillo Scramble to Appease Trump

Nicaragua’s Sandinista regime canceled visa-free entry for Cuban passport holders on February 8, shutting down the most heavily trafficked air corridor that Cubans used to reach the United States. The leaked directive, signed by migration chief Juan Emilio Rivas, reclassifies Cubans from visa-exempt status to a consulted-visa category requiring prior approval — effectively killing a route known on the island as “la ruta de los volcanes.”

The policy had been in place since November 2021, when Managua opened its doors under the banner of humanitarian solidarity. The effect was immediate: over 6,000 Cubans entered Nicaragua in December of that year alone, and the Central American country became a transit hub where migrants flew into Managua, then traveled overland through Honduras, Guatemala, and Mexico toward the U.S. southern border. Research by the Inter-American Dialogue found that at least 100,000 passengers from Cuba and Haiti arrived on charter flights to Nicaragua in 2023 alone.

The reversal is the latest in a cascade of concessions by the Ortega-Murillo regime since U.S. forces captured Nicolás Maduro in January, shattering the confidence of Washington’s leftist adversaries across the hemisphere. Nicaragua has since released dozens of political prisoners, cooperated on drug enforcement, and gone conspicuously quiet — the couple has not mentioned Trump by name or issued its customary denunciations of U.S. imperialism.

Analysts see a regime in survival mode. Manuel Orozco of the Inter-American Dialogue described the visa change as “symbolic” and “a little too late,” noting that Washington had expected such a step years earlier. The State Department, meanwhile, has sharpened its rhetoric against Murillo personally, calling the co-presidency an “invented” title designed to consolidate power without elections — a shift that signals the U.S. now views her, not the aging Ortega, as the true center of gravity.

For Cubans, the closure compounds an already desperate situation. With the island gripped by its worst energy crisis in decades and Washington blocking oil shipments from Venezuela and Mexico, the Managua corridor was one of the last viable exit routes. The remaining option — flying to Guyana and crossing the Darién Gap — is far more dangerous and expensive, leaving tens of thousands of would-be migrants with fewer paths out.

Related coverage: Brazil’s Morning Call | Chile Joins Latin America’s Aid Push for Cuba as U.S. Oil Bl This is part of The Rio Times’ daily coverage of Cuba affairs and Latin American financial news.

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