Biden orders denial of multilateral loan to Nicaragua

Cuba also remains on the list of 11 countries

The measure will remain in effect until 2025 or until the Ortega regime meets minimum standards for the protection of victims of human trafficking.

By confidential

HAVANA TIMES – US President Joe Biden has ordered the denial of loans that Nicaragua could request from multilateral organizations such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in response to the Ortega regime’s insufficient efforts to combat human trafficking.

In a memorandum to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and released by the White House, Biden asked designated executive directors at financial institutions, including the IMF, to “vote against and make every effort to deny any loans or other use of funds of the respective institution”. funds” to Nicaragua and 11 other countries.

Biden had already adopted the same measure in 2021 and 2023, as part of the “Presidential Determination Concerning Foreign Government Efforts on Human Trafficking.” This measure will also apply to the governments of Belarus, Burma, Cuba, North Korea, Eritrea, Iran, Macau, China, Russia, South Sudan and Syria, and will be enforced in fiscal year 2025 (starting October 1, 2024). as of September 30, 2025).

The lucrative trade established by the Ortega dictatorship and various airlines, using Nicaragua as a visa-free springboard to promote irregular migration to the United States, has led the Biden administration to impose sanctions on those facilitating the transit of irregular migrants.

The United States also warned of the arrival of Cuban and Haitian migrants who use these flights to undertake a land journey from Nicaragua to the United States and reiterated that it would extend its visa restrictions to air transport operators , land and sea, thus facilitating these transfers. migrant flights.

A former official of the Empresa Administradora del Aeropuerto Internacional (EAAI) said CONFIDENTIAL how the “mafia” works. “It’s something you only see in Netflix or Hollywood movies. They use institutions that are supposed to be serious to carry out illegal things, such as transporting irregular migrants,” he denounced.

(Editor’s note: Migrants around the world see expensive flights to Managua as a positive alternative to even more expensive trips from country to country and risking their lives to cross the Darien Gap that divides Colombia and Panama.)

Only humanitarian and commercial aid

Biden’s measure excludes loans for humanitarian assistance, trade-related aid, or development assistance that directly address basic human needs and are not administered by those governments.

“The United States will not provide non-humanitarian, non-trade-related assistance and will not authorize funding for participation in educational and cultural exchange programs of officials or employees of the governments of Belarus, Cuba and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea). , Eritrea, Macau (Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China), Nicaragua, the People’s Republic of China, Russia and Syria for FY 2025,” the document said.

The measure will remain in effect “until such governments meet the minimum standards” of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act or make significant efforts to meet the minimum standards.

Read more news here on Havana Times.