Biden Orders Multilateral Loan Denial to Nicaragua
Cuba also remains on the list of 11 countries
The measure will remain in effect throughout 2025 or until the Ortega regime meets minimum standards for the protection of human trafficking victims.
HAVANA TIMES – US President Joe Biden has ordered the denial of loans that Nicaragua may request from multilateral organizations such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in response to the Ortega regime’s inadequate efforts to combat human trafficking.
In a memorandum addressed to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and released by the White House, the Biden instructed executive directors designated in financial institutions, including the IMF, “to vote against and do everything possible to deny any loan or other use of the respective institution’s funds” to Nicaragua and 11 other countries.
Biden had already adopted the same measure in 2021 and 2023, under the “Presidential Determination with Respect to Foreign Governments’ Efforts Regarding Human Trafficking.” This measure will also apply to the governments of Belarus, Burma, Cuba, North Korea, Eritrea, Iran, Macao, China, Russia, South Sudan, and Syria, and will be enforced during the fiscal year 2025 (from October 1, 2024, to September 30, 2025).
The lucrative business established by Ortega’s dictatorship and various airlines, using Nicaragua as a visa-free springboard to promote irregular migration to the United States, led the Biden Administration to impose sanctions on those facilitating the transit of irregular migrants.
The United States has also warned of the arrival of Cuban and Haitian migrants who use these flights to embark on a land journey from Nicaragua to the US and has reiterated that it will expand its visa restrictions on air, land, and sea transport operators facilitating these migrant flights.
A former official of the Empresa Administradora del Aeropuerto Internacional (EAAI) told CONFIDENCIAL how the “mafia” operates. “This is something you only see in Netflix or Hollywood movies. They use institutions that are supposed to be serious to carry out something illegal, like the transport of migrants in irregular situations,” he denounced.
[Editor’s note: The migrants from around the globe see the expensive flights to Managua as a positive alternative to the even more expensive traveling from country to country and having to risk their lives to cross the Darien Gap that divides Colombia and Panama.]
Only Humanitarian and Commercial Assistance
Biden’s measure excludes loans designated for humanitarian assistance, trade-related assistance, or development aid that directly addresses basic human needs and is not administered by these governments.
“The United States will not provide non-humanitarian, non-trade-related assistance or allow funding for participation in educational and cultural exchange programs by officials or employees of the governments of Belarus, Cuba, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea), Eritrea, Macao (Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China), Nicaragua, the People’s Republic of China, Russia, and Syria for fiscal year 2025,” the document states.
The measure will remain in force “until these governments meet the minimum standards” of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act or make significant efforts to meet the minimum standards.