Nicaragua imposes visa on 128 countries amid US pressure over irregular migration

San José.- The Nicaraguan government reinstated this Friday the visa requirement for citizens of 128 countries, including those of Cuba, Venezuela, China, Iran, Haiti and African nations, amid pressure from the Donald Trump Administration over irregular migration. The new provision signed by the Nicaraguan Minister of the Interior, María Amelia Coronel, and by the Director General of Migration and Foreign Affairs, Juan Emilio Rivas, establishes that citizens of 128 countries will require a consulted visa, category C, to enter Nicaragua. The list of countries, in addition to Cuba, Venezuela and Haiti, includes North Korea, Iraq and Libya, as well as China, Iran and Syria, although for those last three countries only for holders of ordinary passports. The Executive led by the spouses and co-presidents, Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo, made that decision amid pressure from the Donald Trump administration over irregular migration to that nation. The United States had labeled as "concerning" the open-door policy applied by the Nicaraguan government to facilitate irregular migration to the North American country through Managua, where charter flights from countries in Africa, Asia, and Europe landed.

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The previous Joe Biden administration had been warning about Cuban, Haitian, and African migrants who were using charter flights to Nicaragua to then undertake a journey by land to the border of Mexico with the United States. In the last four years, the Nicaraguan government has established visa-free agreements with Cuba and African countries. The provision orders the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Nicaragua to communicate this measure to the accredited and concurrent consular representations in Managua. The provision also establishes that citizens holding diplomatic, official, service, public affairs, and special passports, with which Nicaragua has signed bilateral agreements, remain exempt from visa-free travel. According to disposition number 002-2026, citizens of the following nationalities must apply for a consulted visa, migratory category "C", to enter Nicaragua: Afghanistan, Andorra, Antigua and Barbuda, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Benin, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Bhutan, Cabo Verde, Cambodia, Cameroon, Chad, China, Colombia, Comoros, Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Ivory Coast, Croatia, Cuba, Djibouti, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Eritrea, Slovakia, Slovenia, Estonia, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Georgia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Guyana, Haiti, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Iran, Iceland, Marshall Islands, Mauritius, Jamaica, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Kiribati, Laos, Lesotho, Lebanon, Liberia, Libya. Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Macedonia, Madagascar, Malawi, Maldives, Mali, Morocco, Mexico, Micronesia, Monaco, Mongolia, Montenegro, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nauru, Nepal, Niger, Nigeria, New Zealand, Pakistan, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Rwanda, Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, Central African Republic, Samoa, Saint Kitts and Nevis, San Marino, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Lucia, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Serbia, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Syria, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Suriname, Thailand, Tanzania, Tajikistan, East Timor, Togo, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu, Ukraine, Uganda, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Vietnam, Yemen, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.