Nicaragua this week has dropped its visa requirement for Cubans — a move that isn’t just about immigration but also poking the United States in the eye.
The government of left-wing Nicaraguan dictator Daniel Ortega announced Monday night Cubans can enter the country now without visas. That promises to be a boon to many Cubans, especially private entrepreneurs who need to buy wholesale goods they can’t find in Cuba.
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Nicaragua, which two years ago made it easier for some Cubans to get temporary visas, has become a more important place for Cubans to make those purchases after the Trump Administration cut off extended, multiple-entry U.S. visas for Cubans in 2019.
But the new visa-free move for Cubans is also a jab at the Biden administration. That’s because lifting the visa requirement also means many more Cubans can now use Nicaragua as a safer, quicker launching point to migrate north to the United States.
Ortega knows that could add to the migrant crisis at the U.S.’s southern border. And that’s a way for him to hit back at the tough, targeted economic sanctions the U.S. has levied against his regime.
Those sanctions are a response to Ortega’s brutal dismantling of Nicaragua’s democracy. That includes jailing all his potential opponentsin the Nov. 7 presidential election, which allowed Ortega to cruise to a virtually uncontested win.
