In one year, from April 2018 –when protests began against Daniel Ortega’s government with subsequent human rights violations by state forces– until April 2019, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) reported that some 62,000 people had fled that country in search of a safe place. By August 2019, the same agency’s records had reached more than 80,000.
The majority of them, more than 50,000, have sought refuge in the neighboring country of Costa Rica, but another amount not quantified by the UN agency has also reached the United States. And deportations from that country have been continuous, despite the risk it implies for these Nicaraguans nationals.
In a public letter personally addressed to the president of the United States, Donald Trump, the Democratic representatives of the U.S. Congress, Donna E. Shalala (of Nicaraguan origin), Eliot E. Engel and Albio Sires denounce that there is “coordination” between Trump’s government and the “oppressive [Daniel] Ortegato facilitate the deportation of Nicaraguans nationals from the United States”. So they urge the U.S. government to grant a further extension of the temporary protection program (TPS) for them.
Nicaragua’s Permanent Commission on Human Rights estimates that between December 2018 and August 2019, the United States deported more than 600 Nicaraguans.
According to this independent organization, deportations began just in December last year, and since then there have been five mass deportations of more than 100 Nicaraguans each.
Roger Castaño, president of the Miami office of this Commission, also pointed out that there are “hundreds of Nicaraguans detained in immigration prisons”: in Georgia alone, more than 500.
Representatives Shalala, Engel and Sires state in their letter that this is facilitated by an agreement between the U.S. and Daniel Ortega’s governments. In fact, as of April 2018, they write, Nicaragua is a “participating partner” in the electronic travel document (eTD) system from the Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). This collaboration between the Nicaraguan government and ICE, the letter says, “provides biographical and biometric information to help identify and deport Nicaraguan nationals who enter the U.S.”.
“This system allows for the streamline and expedited deportations of Nicaraguans. It also relays personal information about deportees to the Nicaraguan government, putting these individuals at serious risk when they are forcibly returned to Nicaragua,” the letter warns.
To support this, the letter refers to an article the Nicaraguan newspaper La Prensa published, with statements attributed to Roger Castaño. According to him, 20 Nicaraguans deported to Nicaragua in January were missing.
“To deport these Nicaraguans means to send them to death, to repression. We believe it is immoral, and that is why we ask our representatives, our senators, to stop the deportations,” Castaño told journalist Marta Vásquez Larios.
That is the call of attention that the three Democrat representatives make publicly to Donald Trump in their letter dated November 21st.
“Given this grave state of affairs, we strongly urge the end of expedited deportations from the United States to Nicaragua and the further extension of temporary protected status(TPS) for Nicaraguan nationals. Further extending TPS for Nicaraguans would provide safety for families that have fled persecution from their own government.”
UNHCR’s report mentioned earlier said of Nicaraguans fleeing: “Many, in what is overwhelmingly a refugee flow, have resorted to irregular crossings to avoid detection, often walking for hours through difficult terrain, exposed to heat, humidity and the risk of malaria. Initially, it was mainly adults crossing the border, but families, including young children, are also now fleeing.”
On the other hand, according to a report by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Nicaraguan police have used disproportionate use of force, which has sometimes resulted in ” in extrajudicial killings; enforced disappearances; obstructions to access to medical care; widespread arbitrary or illegal detentions; prevalent ill-treatment and instances of torture and sexual violence in detention centres; violations of freedoms of peaceful assembly and expression, including the criminalization of social leaders, human rights defenders, journalists and protesters considered critical of the Government.”
Some 300 people were killed and 2,000 injured during protests between April and August 2018, for “multiple forms of repression and other forms of violence,” the report says.
Repression and violence –this report says, quoting the High Commissioner– ” are products of the systematic erosion of human rights over the years, and highlight the overall fragility of institutions and the rule of law.”