In the last week there has been a high influx of Nicaraguans carrying out procedures in the different delegations of the General Directorate of Migration and Immigration, an expert on migration issues consulted by Article 66 pointed out that this situation can be associated with a “immigration panic” in the citizens, due to the restrictions that the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega has imposed against the citizens.
“The signals that they have sent with the migratory restrictions I think are negative and make people panic, this is like a kind of migratory panic, to know “If it will be that they don’t let me leave the country too”either “the document is not issued”», referred the specialist under anonymity.
Likewise, he indicated that he did not know if it is an extraordinary peak. Dozens of citizens make long lines at Immigration to process, especially, their passport; but he does not rule out that this number of people leave the country due to the economic situation.
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“It is not the only migratory upturn that has occurred in Nicaragua and without a doubt, both the previous ones and this one are related to the situation in the country,” he stressed.
The migration expert also stressed that this influx of citizens processing their passports “gives an approximate idea of how the flow is, because in reality there are a large number of people who leave without documents or only with their identity card.”
“The migratory movement is even greater than what we see,” said the specialist, referring to the images and videos released by the population on social networks, where the long lines that citizens make in Migration are observed.
In the last week, Nicaraguan users have spread on social networks the long lines that citizens make in the different Migration delegations, this situation has alarmed the population, which indicates that Nicaragua will be “deserted” due to the exodus of Nicaraguan migrants.
Some of the videos captured show that the lines extend up to two or three blocks from the gate of the headquarters of the General Directorate of Migration and Foreigners in Managua.
These are reasons why Nicaraguans leave
According to the Center for Transdisciplinary Studies of Central America (Cetcam), forced displacement has become the most frequent form of migration in Nicaragua, due to “state violence and deepening of the sociopolitical crisis” in the country.
In his most recent reportCentral American Views», the entity assured that «oppression and uncertainty about the future have increased the flow of migration and exile that has opened in Nicaragua since 2018. As in other countries in the region, this migration is of a multi-causal nature and it does not seem that It will have a recess in the short term while these conditions are maintained.
“The constant Nicaraguan migratory flow has become part of the national reality and deep processes of family disintegration are already evident and a severe impact on the life of the communities within the country and of the migrants due to the emotional burden that it represents. », he stressed.
He added that the influx of migration and exile flows in Nicaragua “have increased in such a way that different studies have been carried out to estimate the number of people who have left the country; however, the data is uneven and there is an underreporting that does not end up growing as long as the flow continues».
“A rough estimate amounts to 190,000 Nicaraguans who emigrated during the crisis period; that is, between 2018 and 2021”, revealed Cetcam.
In addition, he stressed that Nicaragua “has become proportionally one of the countries with the largest number of migrants at the Central American level, in addition that there is a significant variation because the main destination country that was previously Costa Rica, is now changing to the United States” .
