Nicaragua has become a hot spot for migrants from around the world seeking to avoid a brutal trek through the Darien Gap jungle — including the 303 Indians whose plane was grounded last week in France on their way to the Central American nation.
Migrants from South American and Caribbean countries, Africa and Asia, have long had to brave the lawless, virtually impassable rainforest that straddles Panama and Colombia, in a bid to reach the United States.
However, analysts say that the government of Nicaragua's iron-fisted President Daniel Ortega, a longtime nemesis of the US, has deliberately made it easier for migrants to bypass the Darien by flying straight to his country before heading north overland.
Manuel Orozco, a migration expert at the Washington-based Inter-American Dialogue, told Agence France-Presse that Ortega's government was facilitating "the business of a network of international air services" so that migrants "can reach the border with Mexico and the United States faster."
"We collected data from more than 500 charter flights," Orozco said, adding that between April and June, airport authorities had hired "private companies located in Dubai to train officials in the international handling of paperwork for these types of flights."
An Airbus A340 was detained last week at a Paris airport after an anonymous tip-off that it was carrying potential victims of human trafficking. After it was established that the passengers were traveling of their own free will, most of them were flown back to India on Monday.
Indian police said the passengers had paid tens of thousands of dollars to agents to help them reach the southern border of the US.
'Premeditated'
Orozco said that the Nicaraguan government, which has remained mum on the matter, benefits from the cost of visas or tourist cards — depending on the nationality of the arriving passenger — as well as landing taxes.
He said Nicaragua "conceived" this new air route "in a premeditated manner faced with the opportunity to worsen the migration crisis to the US and, in the process, make money."