Daniel Ortega intensifies immigration control in Nicaragua

The president of Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega, in his proposal to reform the migration law, includes the withdrawal of nationality, increases controls on entry and exit from the country, and imposes prison sentences on those who cross the borders illegally in order to to destabilize the country.

The bill, which is expected to be approved shortly by Parliament, completely controlled by the ruling party, establishes that nationality is deprived for reasons established in the Constitution.

A broad constitutional reform approved on Friday established that “traitors to the homeland” lose Nicaraguan nationality.

Related news: Ortega orders to reform the Immigration Law and Penal Code: Legalizes de facto expulsions against nationals and criminalizes the departure of opponents due to a “blind spot”

The law did not establish this provision; However, since February 2023, the government has already stripped the nationality of some 450 politicians, businessmen, journalists, intellectuals, human rights activists and religious people who were expelled from Nicaragua.

The proposal imposes sentences of two to six years in prison on those who enter or leave the country illegally with the aim of “undermining” sovereignty, “altering the constitutional order” or “conspiring and inducing terrorist acts or acts of economic and social destabilization.” .

Many Nicaraguan opponents or critics – including journalists and social activists -, accused by the government of being “coup plotters”, of working for enemy countries or serving the opposition, have fled the country, especially to Costa Rica due to the so-called “blind spots” of the border.

The reform to the law also indicates that those who have entered or left the country through areas that are not immigration posts may be expelled from Nicaragua if they try to enter again.

Related news: Daniel Ortega, desperate to put fear into his deserters: He exhibits viciousness against those who flee “for purposes of treason”

The government is promoting a series of law reforms that accompany the constitutional reform, which will be ratified in the legislature that begins in January, and which gives Ortega and his wife Rosario Murillo absolute power of the Nicaraguan State.

Ortega’s government has tightened repression since the 2018 opposition protests, which left more than 300 dead in three months, according to the UN, considered by Managua as an attempted coup by Washington.