by Jill Clark Gollub, published on the Orinoco Tribune, July 9, 2024
The Republican party has been waging a blatantly racist campaign to criminalize migrants. Instead of pushing back on that narrative, the party that purports to be for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (Democrats) is exploiting this racist anger to discredit a country it has targeted for regime change—Nicaragua—apparently for not sufficiently suppressing the rights of migrants. As Congresswoman Maria Salazar (R-FL) told a Biden administration representative at a recent hearing, “We agree on the end goal.” This is part of a relentless campaign to punish countries that dare to resist Washington’s agenda with suffocating unilateral coercive measures (aka “sanctions”).
Congresswoman Salazar convened a June 27 hearing of the Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere about “The Curse of Socialism in Central America and the Caribbean,” an apt sequel to her 2023 Congressional resolution “Denouncing the Horrors of Socialism.” The hearing’s purpose seemed to be to denigrate and punish Nicaragua and Cuba, and to threaten Honduras (and any other country that follows their example).
It included bizarre accusations regarding the crime of human trafficking. For at least five years now, Cuba detractors have been alleging that the world-renowned Henry Reeve Brigade, which sends Cuban physicians around the world bringing medical care to address humanitarian disasters, is a human trafficking ring. This sinister argument claims that no doctors would willingly accept the modest wages that Cuban doctors receive, nor could the doctors possibly be motivated by humanitarian interests or anything other than personal enrichment, so they must be victims of trafficking. Lodging such unfounded complaints about a serious human rights issue could undermine efforts to combat real instances of human trafficking. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime defines human trafficking as, “the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of people through force, fraud or deception, with the aim of exploiting them for profit.” No evidence has ever been put forth that the Cuban doctors are subject to force, fraud, or deception. On the contrary, the doctors have given numerous interviews regarding how proud and pleased they are to help people through the Henry Reeve Brigade. Yet these unfounded accusations persist.
Now Nicaragua is being accused of human trafficking, too, because it applies immigration policies that respect international law. Accusations that Nicaragua was “weaponizing migration” to exacerbate the crisis on the southern US border began in Nicaraguan opposition circles around 2022 once Cubans and Haitians began traveling through Nicaragua on the way to the United States. While the US violates well-established norms to protect refugees and asylum seekers, Nicaragua has become an escape valve for people fleeing the humanitarian crises in Cuba and Haiti that are largely caused by US policy. Thinly veiled racist accusations have since been taken up by US corporate media, with allegations that the Nicaraguan government is somehow profiting from the flow of migrants through its country and is in fact engaged in or encouraging human trafficking. Such charges come devoid of any evidence of how government authorities might profit from the situation. And while migrants are indeed vulnerable to predators, human trafficking rings go hand-in-hand with organized crime—including drug and weapons trafficking—scourges that are noticeably absent from Nicaragua. Even Manuel Orozco, one of loudest purveyors of this dishonest theory admits that, “It’s a complicated issue because everyone has the right [to] free movement.”
This narrative has been expanded as migrants from Africa, Asia, and Eastern Europe, seeing the doors of Western Europe closed to them, have been seeking new paths to the United States. Flying into Central America is a way to avoid the dangerous Darien Gap in Panama, and Nicaragua’s inexpensive or free visas make it more economical than other options.
The accusations have taken a dangerous turn as Nicaragua is now blamed for the crimes of anyone who passes through its territory. Such is the case of eight migrants from Tajikistan alleged to have ties with ISIS, who are said to have passed through Nicaragua on their way to the US border. Never mind that they passed through several countries in addition to Nicaragua on their way to the US, or that they even fooled US immigration authorities about their criminal records, Nicaragua is now being called a “State Sponsor of Terrorism” because such individuals might have passed through its territory.
Congresswoman Salazar appears eager to pursue this charge and have Nicaragua join Cuba on the State Sponsors of Terrorism (SSOT) list. During the June hearing, she excoriated the State Department spokesman for any collaboration with the Cuban government to fight terrorism and admonished the Biden administration to refrain from any thought of removing Cuba from “the list.” Readers may be aware that the spurious placement of Cuba on the list in 2021 has greatly exacerbated the six-decade-old blockade of the island nation, making it even harder for the country to procure essential supplies and food, provoking a humanitarian and migration crisis. Congress is now trying to make Cuba’s spot on this list permanent.
The justification for Nicaragua’s placement on the list is equally flimsy and could bring tremendous suffering to the Central American country, too. When Rep. Salazar told the State Department witness, “Why don’t you put them on the terrorist list as well? … Put Nicaragua?” The response was, “I will take back your recommendation.”
Before closing the meeting, Rep. Salazar mentioned that she wanted to remove Nicaragua from the DR-CAFTA agreement, because “that is what will hurt them [the government],” even though she admitted that it will also hurt ordinary Nicaraguans.
As for Honduras, Salazar’s assessment is summed up with these words about the report on Honduran democracy that the State Department is preparing: “I would give Madame President an F!” and … “Are you sending Madame President the message that she should not be messing with Honduran democracy and she should not be moving to the left like Chavez, Maduro, Ortega, Fidel?”
The Monroe Doctrine and the Cold War appear to be alive and well in the US Congress and State Department. Although Venezuela was not mentioned at this hearing, readers may be aware that the United States reinstated coercive measures on that country in April based on allegations surrounding its preferred candidate in this month’s presidential election. We can expect more pain and suffering to be heaped on the Venezuelan people if they re-elect the man who is leading in the polls: President Maduro.
The combination of the June hearing and last year’s Congressional resolution against socialism makes clear that regime change is not the only goal of US coercive measures. They are also meant to make sure that countries providing universal healthcare, education, and social services—such as Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela—whom many call “threats of a good example,” become examples of what kind of punishment the US government is willing to impose on those who break out from under its influence. This is meant to serve as a dire warning to others, such as the people of Honduras, who are exploring new paths.
For this reason, we must defend other nations from our government’s economic aggression. One tool that we have to educate and mobilize people is the Americas Without Sanctions campaign, which, among other resources, includes a link to support Congresswoman Velázquez’ resolution to annul the Monroe Doctrine and establish better relations with Latin America and the Caribbean. We MUST end the blockade of Cuba and get it off the SSOT list! We must prevent any more countries from being placed on the list, and eliminate all unilateral coercive measures! They are illegal under international law, and immoral because they impose collective punishment and harm the most vulnerable citizens.
We must do everything we can to save the peoples of Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela, and other nations from these ongoing attacks on their self-determination.
More from Jill Clark-Gollub on U.S. Policy and Migrants
*Featured Image: Migrants at border wall waiting to surrender to immigration officials in El Paso, TX, March 25, 2024. Photo: Reuters/Adrees Latif.
Jill Clark-Gollub organizes study delegations to Nicaragua and has published in outlets including COHA, Popular Resistance, and afgj.org. She holds an M.A. (with distinction) from the Monterey Institute of International Studies in Translation and Interpretation, and a B.A. from Tulane University in Latin American Studies and Spanish.