A total of 55,279 Nicaraguans were detected by the authorities between October and November of this year on the southern US border, exceeding the numbers of migrants from the so-called Northern Triangle of Central America, according to data from the United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
Of the countries in the region, the number of encounters with Nicaraguan migrants was only surpassed by that of Cuban migrants, who registered 65,731 encounters with the authorities. The encounters with Venezuelans reported in the same period were 36,637.
Migrants from the Northern Triangle, which encompasses Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador, have been at the top of the statistics for encounters with CBP authorities at the border for years.
In fiscal year 2020, 3,154 encounters with Nicaraguan migrants were reported at the US border, well below the 17,713 with Salvadorans, 49,436 with Guatemalans, and 43,357 with Hondurans reported by CBP.
In fiscal year 2021, authorities reported 321,000 encounters with Hondurans at the border, 284,000 encounters with Guatemalans, and 99,000 with Salvadorans. From Nicaragua the figure was 50,722.
The dynamic began to change in fiscal year 2022, with an increase in meetings with Nicaraguans. CBP reported 164,000 encounters with Nicaraguans at the border that fiscal year, compared to 97,797 Salvadorans, 233,061 Guatemalans, and 214,975 Hondurans.
Nicaragua is going through one of its worst political crises in four years, when protests against President Daniel Ortega arose and were violently repressed, leaving more than 300 dead, according to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).
Migrants attribute their departure from the country to political, but also economic reasons.
According to a survey by the Costa Rican company Cid Gallup published in the magazine Confidential, 57% of Nicaraguans would emigrate if they had the financial resources available; 51% would go to the US. The main reasons are the lack of jobs, corruption and the high cost of living, according to the survey results.
President Daniel Ortega has blamed the emigration on the sanctions imposed by the US against his government. “Keep imposing sanctions and more migrants will arrive”, he said in a speech on October 27.
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