Overview
- Citing a government confirmation to the Associated Press, Nicaragua on Sunday suspended the exemption that had allowed Cubans to enter without visas.
- Cuban travelers now require more than a standard passport to visit Nicaragua, with no fee specified and the application process and timeline still unclear.
- The decision disrupts a long-used pathway in which Cubans flew to Nicaragua and continued north with smugglers through Central America and Mexico.
- Dozens of Cubans protested outside the Nicaraguan Embassy in Havana as would-be travelers questioned whether existing plans could proceed.
- Analysts link the shift to heightened U.S. pressure, noting prior visa-free access for about 90 countries since 2021 and pointing to recent U.S. actions on Cuba and Venezuela; with Nicaragua restricted, migrants are turning to routes via Guyana and the dangerous Darién Gap.