At least 160 Nicaraguans have been prevented from returning to Nicaragua with the entry into force of a reform to the Migration Law that allows to reject the entry of their citizens by considering that they can attempt against the peace and security of the country.
The so -called Initiative for Reforms and Additions to Law 761, approved at the end of November 2024, empowers the General Directorate of Migration and Foreigners denied and cancel the entry of any person and their permanence in the country, their residence and even being the being Nicaraguan.
“There are more than 160 people who have denied admission. This is an expression of crime against humanity. ” Voice of America Gonzalo Carrión, lawyer of the Nicaragua Human Rights Collective again, an oenegé that Work with migratory themes For six years in Costa Rica.
Carrión said they are collecting the complaints of affected through social networks and Nicaraguan media about the negative admission to the country, which include journalists, activists, beauty queens, influencers and private individuals.
Daniel Ortega’s government did not respond to a request for comments from the Voice of America.
Experts say this practice had been developing “de facto” to many critical voices to the Ortega government, but was not adjusted to the law.
In 2023 the Ortega government He denied the country to Sheynnis Palacios, The first Nicaraguan to be crowned as Miss Universe.
“It is being legalized what they did in practice,” said the opposition political analyst Eliseo Núñez to the Voa.
When Palacios was banished he had to stay out of Nicaragua even though there was no legal basis.
“That banishment has a dimension, an unsuspected scope, because it is extremely serious because it practically injures each person’s life project,” said Carrión.
In limbo
People who have been in this limbo during their return process to Nicaragua were mostly in the United States and intended to return to their country after being expired by various migratory programs with which they were, such as the humanitarian parole.
The administration of President Donald Trump, after assuming a new mandate on January 20, signed an order to suspend several programs, within them the so -called Parole, with which Nicaraguans, Haitians and Venezuelans had a legal stay for two years in states in states Joined.
The Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, was consulted during his visit to Costa Rica about what would happen to Nicaraguans who were not received in their country due to the government’s refusal, however it only blamed “the dictatorships of Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua of being enemies of humanity“For causing huge migratory flows in the region.
“Today we have to recognize that Nicaragua is not a democracy, but you have to study it well because of the impact it will have not only in Nicaragua, but also in neighboring countries,” said Rubio.
Since 2023, the government has stripped almost 500 people from nationality and now prevents return to these more than 160 citizens, which for defenders put them in a de facto appatridge.
According to Costa Rican authorities, these measures of Nicaragua are not precedents.
Cyndi Molina, director of the General Directorate of Migration and Foreigners of Costa Rica told the Voa that this is a “phenomenon that is not seen in general in Latin America in recent years.”
“We have not been aware that nationality has suspended, much less in the quantity, in the proportion that is doing now in Nicaragua,” he said.
[El periodista de la VOA, Donaldo Hernández colaboró con este informe desde Costa Rica]
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