The Ministry of the Interior (Mint) of Nicaragua, according to the proposed General Budget of the Republic 2025, disclosed on the website of the National Assembly, will receive next year a budget of 1,934.7 million córdobas, 140.2 million córdobas additional to the that he received in 2024.
Among the main projects that the Mint proposed for next year, with this new budget item, is the construction of a new building at the current headquarters of the General Directorate of Migration and Immigration, located in Managua.
He stated, according to the PGR document, that in terms of studies they have planned the “improvement and equipment of the headquarters building of the General Directorate of Immigration and Immigration, with an area of 8,550.67 square meters, which is more than 45 years old.” .
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Furthermore, it specifies that said improvement actually consists of “the construction of a new building” for the headquarters of that Directorate.
“In this budget you can see the priorities that the dictatorship has,” says the economist and former vice minister of Finance during the government of Enrique Bolaños (2002-2007), Juan Sebastian Chamorro. The opposition leader also said in the program In Contact, of Article 66, that the construction of this Immigration and Immigration building is “probably to continue the repression against Nicaraguans who are abroad, or who are traveling, and not let them enter.”
The Directorate of Immigration and Immigration is a government entity that depends directly on the Ministry of the Interior, formerly the Ministry of the Interior. For several years, the Sandinista regime has used this institution as one of the executors of abusive actions against opponents.
Some of the known examples of persecution against dissidents:
- In 2013, Migration and Immigration carried out the expulsion, without any legal procedure, of the Bolivian Carlos Ariñez Castel, who at that time was the partner of Zoilamérica Ortega Murillo, daughter of the first lady Rosario Murillo and stepdaughter of Daniel Ortega. Zoilamérica accused Ortega of rape in 1998. Rosario Murillo’s daughter had to go into exile in Costa Rica.
- In November 2018, this same institution expelled the activist Ana Quiros, Nicaraguan nationalized for more than 30 years.
- In these six years, journalists, activists, human rights defenders and opposition leaders have denounced that when trying to process passports, the authorities delay them, deny them the document and have imposed jail terms on them, either because they leave them undocumented or because They prevent them from leaving through any border post. Has established a kind of “red list”they denounce.
- In September 2023, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) reported that until that date it had documented the expulsion from Nicaragua of 231 Nicaraguans, while at least 56 had been denied entry to the country. All of these abuses were carried out directly by the Directorate of Immigration and Immigration.
“Among the cases of deportations of nationals, in addition to the 222 people expelled on February 9, family cases of people considered opposition and people who had some participation in the events of 2018 have been documented,” said that organization in a report.
Disorder and chaos in the old facilities
The headquarters of the General Directorate of Migration and Immigration in Managua is located exactly from the Tenderí traffic lights, four blocks to the north, right in front of the Maxipali supermarket.
The area surrounding said headquarters is surrounded by informal stands selling food, clothing, photocopies, notary services, lawyers, travel advisors and people who even offer to fill out forms for some Immigration and Immigration procedures.
Said headquarters, although it has a parking area and a large lot, is not enabled for users, and entry is limited to the staff of that Directorate and on some occasions to users who arrive with people with disabilities.
The lack of said parking space daily causes the sidewalks and part of the lanes of the road that crosses in that area to be constantly invaded by vehicles seeking some service at the Immigration and Immigration headquarters. Even one of the entrances to the Maxipali supermarket is invaded by vehicles and said business has, most of the time, chosen to leave that second entrance gate to its premises closed.
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The PGR 2025 proposal document does not detail how much will be allocated for the construction of said building or when they plan to start the work, nor if it will include improvements such as access to parking for users who arrive at that facility daily.
The General Directorate of Migration and Immigration, faced with the crowds that were suffered at the Managua headquarters, due to the massive passport applications that were registered after the 2018 protests, in recent years has made changes in the forms of access to passports. services. Initially, in 2023, it launched online appointment scheduling for the headquarters in Managua and then extended them to other departments in the country, in order to avoid lines that stretched for several blocks, especially at the headquarters of the company. capital.
