Despite being accused of turning Nicaragua into a platform for promoting irregular migration and of forcing at least 800,000 Nicaraguans into exile, dictator Daniel Ortega is —according to critics— attempting to “whitewash his image” as a defender of migrants’ rights by accusing the United States of committing heinous crimes against individuals being deported for entering the country illegally. He also reported that a group of Nicaraguans deported from Guantánamo had been received.
During a speech delivered on Wednesday, April 30, at an event honoring the founder of the Sandinsita party, Tomás Borge, and International Workers’ Day, Ortega acknowledged receiving an unspecified group of Nicaraguan migrants who had been deported after being detained in Guantánamo. He also criticized the U.S. government’s imprisonment of irregular migrants.
«That is to say, these are already horrendous crimes, horrendous! How can they keep a two-year-old girl in prison there, kidnapped, while the poor mother is crying and rightfully demanding that her daughter be sent to her? And what is President Trump waiting for to send that child back to her mother? Because that is a horrendous crime, that is a crime against humanity,» Ortega stated.
Promoted human trafficking
These statements stand in stark contrast to the actions of the regime, which, since late 2021, has implemented a strategy to promote irregular migration. Ortega’s government welcomed charter flights in Managua carrying migrants from all continents, who would then continue their journey by land toward the United States, facing extreme risks along the way.
He also encouraged human trafficking from various countries, with migrants crossing the jungle between Colombia and Panama, known as the Darién Gap, before making their way through Central America toward the United States. At the same time, the escalating repression against the Nicaraguan population and the lack of opportunities pushed thousands of nationals to flee the country.
«Truly, this is a blatant claim coming from someone who has committed crimes against humanity. It seems like an irony and an act of cynicism that he is making such statements, talking about violations of the independence of powers, when he is the principal violator of human rights and responsible for crimes of that nature,» opposition leader Juan Sebastián Chamorro said in statements to LA PRENSA.
Decline in migrant crossings
The National Institute of Migration (INM) of Honduras reports that between January 1 and March 13, 2025, 9,220 irregular migrants from Nicaragua entered the country. More than half of them crossed the border in January, before President Trump introduced the new immigration policy that criminalizes irregular migration.
Although only about 102,200 passengers who arrived in Nicaragua by air last year did not leave via the same route, the INM reported that in 2024, 369,258 irregular migrants entered its territory from Nicaragua. This occurred despite the restrictions imposed by Panama on crossing the Darién Gap, the dangerous jungle along the Colombia-Nicaragua border.
«Perhaps Ortega had been more cautious in not highlighting that ‘business,’ but that’s over now. The border with the United States has been closed, and that business is no longer as promising for him,» Chamorro explained.
United States accuses Ortega
On April 30, the administration of Donald Trump made Nicaragua a priority as it marked the first 100 days of its tenure, under the section titled «Combating Our Adversaries.»
«Hold the Nicaraguan Ortega-Murillo authoritarian dynasty accountable: Imposed visa restrictions on over 250 officials from the Nicaraguan regime to make them responsible for depriving the Nicaraguan people of their fundamental freedoms and forcing many into exile,» states a note from the U.S. State Department.
This is not the first time the new Trump administration has held the Ortega-Murillo regime accountable for the mass exile. On February 4, Secretary of State Marco Rubio referred to the governments of Nicaragua, Venezuela, and Cuba as «enemies of humanity» during a brief visit to Costa Rica as part of his Central America tour.
«In my opinion, those three regimes in Nicaragua, Venezuela, and Cuba are enemies of humanity and have created a migration crisis. If it weren’t for those three regimes, there wouldn’t be a migration crisis in the hemisphere. They have created it because these are countries where their systems do not work,» Rubio stated, though he did not elaborate on what measures the Trump administration would take in response to the Ortega-Murillo regime’s refusal to allow the return of exiled citizens.
Biden also described it as a «migration springboard»
The Biden administration also commented on the role of the Nicaraguan regime in facilitating irregular migration to the United States. On September 25, 2024, then-Deputy Assistant Secretary for Central America, Eric Jacobstein, stated that the U.S. had expressed its concerns to the regime regarding this strategy.
«We are in contact with the government and have expressed our concern about the way they are facilitating irregular migration and the permissive environment that exists in the country,» said Jacobstein, without confirming whether the regime had responded.
Jacobstein also stated that the United States had taken measures such as visa cancellations and sanctions on economic sectors, although he did not specify the recipients.
«We have expressed our concerns to the government, but we have also taken action. We have revoked several visas and imposed sanctions on economic sectors in the country,» he said.
Ortega responds to Trump
In his speech on Wednesday, Ortega reacted to the measures taken by the Trump administration after his regime was included in the list of «enemies to combat» in the report on the first hundred days of the government.
«And as always, they don’t waste time looking for ways to impose sanctions on Nicaragua, looking for ways to revoke visas from Nicaragua. The U.S. foreign minister was boasting that they have Nicaragua in their sights, just like they have Venezuela in their sights, and Cuba as well. But the U.S. foreign minister should be clear by now that Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua are three nations, three peoples, that neither sell out nor surrender,» said Ortega.
Ortega admits arrival of deported migrants from Guantánamo
Ortega also confirmed the arrival of Nicaraguan citizens deported from Guantánamo, who had been detained at the U.S. military base.
«Today, Nicaraguan brothers and sisters who were imprisoned in Guantánamo arrived; I mean, they are imprisoned in the United States and then sent to Guantánamo,» said Ortega, without providing further details about this or other groups of migrants who are arriving in the country after being deported from the United States for not having applied for asylum or sought other options to regularize their immigration status.
In January 2025, President Trump ordered the expansion of the Guantánamo base with an additional 30,000 beds to detain illegal immigrants deemed «the worst criminals» and a threat to national security.
A change in stance
According to Chamorro, Ortega has changed his rhetoric, as he previously avoided mentioning the migration issue or referring directly to Trump. However, he has now decided to openly confront the new administration.
«I believe this shift is related to what happened in April: a joint action by different opposition forces, a clear message reminding of the seventh anniversary of the protests (sanctioning 250 Nicaraguan officals that were not identified), and also with the words of the co-dictator, who told us that we could never return to Nicaragua. They are restless, upset by all these expressions of resistance,» Chamorro explained.
Nicaraguans demand for conditions in Guantánamo
It is unknown whether among the migrants Ortega mentioned as arriving in Managua were the two Nicaraguans leading a lawsuit before a federal judge in Washington, in which they denounce abusive conditions at the Guantánamo military base, where they are detained alongside others from various nationalities.
The lawsuit refers to an environment of fear, extreme isolation, surveillance of communications, and violations of the right to a legal defense. The plaintiffs, who migrated in 2023, claim they were sent from detention centers in Louisiana and held in Guantánamo under the label of being «the worst» according to the Trump administration.
In the lawsuit, the Nicaraguans also reported being kept chained during their limited communications with lawyers, which are conducted on speakerphone and without privacy, thereby nullifying the right to confidential legal defense. Additionally, they complain of prolonged confinement in cells without light or windows, interrogations, and degrading searches. One of them, Johon Suazo-Muller, stated that he can only speak to his family for five minutes and without revealing his location or conditions. The legal action seeks urgent intervention on behalf of all migrants detained at the base.
Ortega also did not address the other migrants who continue to arrive in the country after being deported from the United States for entering the country irregularly and not taking advantage of available options to regularize their immigration status.
