Authorities in Libya reportedly arrested an unnamed commercial director of the local Ghadames Airlines on Monday, which stands accused of flying hundreds of U.S.-bound illegal migrants into Nicaragua.
According to its website, Ghadames Airlines is a Tripoli-based airline founded in 2021 that “operates scheduled and non-scheduled passenger flights, taking Mitiga International Airport as its operational hub.”
While the airline does not feature Nicaragua on its list of destinations, Nicaraguan outlets have reported that Ghadames Airlines has flown hundreds of passengers on three charter flights to Managua’s international airport between May and June, potentially allowing hundreds of migrants to continue their journey to the U.S. southern border.
The Cuban independent media outlet 14 y Medio reported in late June that the airline had allegedly been sold to one of the sons of the Russia-supported warlord Khalifa Haftar — who has been described in reports as allowing human trafficking networks to smuggle Syrians into Europe.
Nicaragua’s communist dictator, Daniel Ortega, also maintained deep ties with late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi through Gaddafi’s nephew, Mohamed Lashtar, who is a member of Ortega’s inner circle and a close political operator of the communist dictator. Lashtar, a naturalized Nicaraguan citizen, has served as ambassador of Nicaragua to several Middle Eastern nations since Ortega’s return to power in 2007.
The United States imposed sanctions on Lashtar alongside other members of the Ortega regime for their role in the sham elections the ruling communist regime held in November 2021.
The Libyan Attorney General’s Office reportedly stated on Monday that Ghadames Airlines had violated applicable migration legislation and international treaties by flying “hundreds of people wishing to enter the territory of the United States through the territory of the Republic of Nicaragua.”
The Nicaraguan newspaper La Prensa reported on Tuesday that Ghadames Airlines flew three charter flights to Managua between May and June, with a reported maximum capacity of 400 passengers per flight. According to flight tracking data, the first Managua-bound charter flight occurred on May 18, the second flight took place on May 23, and the third flight took place on June 4.
Sources from Managua’s international airport reportedly told 14 y Medio that Ghadames Airlines charges between $230,000 and $250,000 for each charter flight operated and charges around $10,000 for each ticket.
Ortega, in the past year, began to implement actions to “weaponize” migration against the United States, allowing hundreds of thousands of migrants from Latin America, Africa, and Asia to utilize Managua’s international airport as a stopover destination in Central America before ultimately reaching U.S. territory. More than 647,000 U.S.-bound migrants passed through Managua’s airport between 2022 and 2023, according to statistics from Nicaraguan authorities.
Nicaragua demands very few entry visa requirements of travelers, and its location in Central America allows migrants to avoid passing through the dangerous Darién Gap jungle trail located between Colombia and Panama — which the recently inaugurated government of Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino has begun efforts to block by installing barbed wire fences on the trail’s crossings.
Nicaragua has experienced a dramatic surge in charter flights that land in Managua. Roughly 1,150 charter flights are estimated to have landed in Managua between May 2023 and May 2024. The upsurge is the result of the growing use of charter flights by U.S.-bound migrants.
According to recently published reports, Ortega’s actions have resulted in Managua’s international airport overturning more than ten years of a severe financial crisis, experiencing growing profits since 2022, the year when Ortega reportedly started his plan to use migrants against the United States. Ortega has also been able to profit from the migrants by charging them taxes and other fees related to the use of the airport’s facilities.
Experts have asserted in the past that Ortega’s efforts to use migration against the United States are part of a plan that seeks to force the U.S. into engaging in negotiations toward potential sanctions reliefs for the rogue communist regime.
The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden has responded to the growing use of Managua’s airport and the use of charter flights to Nicaragua by imposing sanctions on Nicaraguan-based charter flight airlines and their executives. The Biden administration has also warned airlines and suggested they undergo vetting processes to “avoid complicity” with U.S.-bound migration from Nicaragua.
Reports published by La Prensa in late June indicated that the Biden administration’s efforts have “been insufficient” at reducing the flow of migrants from Nicaragua. La Prensa stated that despite the measures enacted by the Biden administration, the flow of migrants has remained “constant and almost unchanged” to 2023 when more than 300,000 migrants arrived in Nicaragua by air before continuing their journey toward the United States.
If the trend remains unchanged, La Prensa warned in June, Ortega “will have easily put” almost one million migrants in the United States by the end of 2024 since the start of its plans in 2022.
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.
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