MEXICO CITY – El Salvador’s executive has begun slapping a $1,130 fee on travelers from dozens of nations connecting during the country’s major airport, amid U.S. power to assist keep an eye on migration flows to its southern border.
Since the tip of October, electorate of 57 in large part African international locations and India have had to pay the fee, in accordance to El Salvador’s aviation authority.
Aviation officers didn’t say whether or not the measure used to be aimed toward decreasing migration and have described the tariff as an “airport improvement fee,” however El Salvador’s executive said an uptick in travelers from the ones international locations this 12 months. Also, the U.S. has been pressuring Central American international locations to curb migration flows to its border with Mexico. U.S. government say they stopped migrants there more than 2 million times all through the fiscal 12 months that ended Sept. 30.
El Salvador’s aviation authority mentioned maximum passengers who’ve to pay the fee are headed to Nicaragua on the economic airline Avianca. Because of its lax visa necessities, Nicaragua is a transit level for migrants from Haiti and Cuba, as neatly as from Africa, who’re making an attempt to succeed in the U.S.
Earlier this 12 months, as an example, U.S. officers have been stunned by means of an build up in Mauritanian migrants arriving on the southern border. No herbal crisis, coup or surprising financial cave in may just provide an explanation for it. Rather, trip businesses and social media influencers have been selling a multileg travel that took migrants from the west African country to Nicaragua.
A flight itinerary of 1 Senegalese migrant observed by means of The Associated Press confirmed the migrant passing thru Morocco, Spain and El Salvador sooner than touchdown in Managua. The remaining two legs have been aboard Avianca flights.
El Salvador’s aviation authority and immigration company each mentioned they didn’t have knowledge on what number of migrants from the indexed international locations had transited the rustic this 12 months.
A U.S. embassy spokesperson declined to say whether or not the U.S. had asked the fee. But the power to assist the U.S. keep an eye on migration might be a political boon for El Salvador President Nayib Bukele as he seeks reelection regardless of a constitutional prohibition and faces scrutiny for his human rights file.
During President Donald Trump’s management, U.S. coverage towards El Salvador prioritized reining in migration above all else and Bukele heard no public grievance from the U.S. as he started to consolidate energy. Under President Joe Biden, the U.S. has been overtly crucial of Bukele’s file on democracy and human rights.
The U.S. State Department alleged that Bukele’s warfare towards robust side road gangs has ended in “torture and other cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment, and other related abuses” to tens of hundreds of folks detained. His executive has additionally long gone after reporters, activists and critics.
But migration now seems to be again on the best of the bilateral schedule for the 2 international locations as Biden additionally seeks reelection.
While the Biden management has mentioned Central American countries “ need to step up and do more” to keep an eye on migration, now not they all have won the request with open fingers.
“Most governments have recognized that what is of clear interest to the United States is migration and so therefore it becomes a bargaining chip,” said Pamela Ruiz, Central America analyst for International Crisis Group. “They will either become partners or adversaries on this issue.”
Guatemala, Costa Rica, Colombia and Ecuador have worked with the U.S. to open centers for migrants looking to request asylum, apply for family reunification or temporary work permits.
On the other hand, Nicaragua has opened its doors to hundreds of charter flights carrying tens of thousands of U.S.-bound Cuban and Haitian migrants in recent months.
The flights — which one analyst described as Nicaragua “weaponizing migration as a foreign policy” — have been met by means of a fierce caution from the Biden management.
“We are exploring the full range of possible consequences for those who facilitate this form of irregular migration,” wrote U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Brian A. Nichols in a post on X, previously Twitter, this month. Haiti’s executive introduced the constitution flights have been being quickly suspended.
As Bukele once more got here below grievance in contemporary weeks as he registered to search reelection in 2024, the Biden management used to be wary in its remarks.
“There has to be a broad debate about the legality and legitimacy of the election, but it is a debate for Salvadorans,” Nichols said during a recent visit to El Salvador and ahead of a meeting with Bukele.
The comments were a sharp contrast to condemnations of “anti-democratic behavior ” in neighboring Guatemala’s elections months previous.
Bukele “is willing to cooperate on immigration by banning certain nationalities by charging them a ridiculous fee in order to not get critiqued on the international level,” said Ruiz, of Crisis Group. “Part of me wonders … we will not critique the Bukele administration as much because it’s supposedly reducing the levels of migrants?”
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Associated Press writer Marcos Alemán in San Salvador, El Salvador, contributed to this report.
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