Chapter 3 – Case Study of Nicaragua
3.1. History of Nicaragua’s First Waves of Migration
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Chapter 3 Case Study of Nicaragua
In Nicaragua, despite national and international development efforts, the country poverty levels remain a high ranking second poorest country in the Latin American Region just above Haiti (IOM, 2014). It is identified that high youth unemployment rates and lack of decent job opportunities are the main reasons for Nicaraguan migration in the last decades (Ibid).
The purpose of this chapter is to first revise the history of migration from Nicaragua dating back to more than 30 years, moving predominantly to the United States and Costa Rica in order to capture the patterns of migration created by the first waves of mass migrants. This historic trend is necessary in order to decipher the predominant reasons why Nicaraguans decide to leave the country and later, a more specific analysis as to why children are making their decision to migrate.
The migration history will be followed by an analysis of violence and poverty in the country alongside a governmental response to mitigate the levels of violence in Nicaragua, keeping it as one of the safest countries in Latin America braking so the myth that high levels of poverty causes higher levels of violence and vice versa.
3.1. History of Nicaragua’s First Waves of Migration
Taking into account a general migration profile, Nicaragua is mainly known for being a country of origin of the migrant population or a sending country. In this sense,
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Nicaraguan migrants represent 10 percent of the national population (Briones, 2013)2. As the sending country that it is, two migratory currents prevail, these are: South-North migration being the United States the most frequent destination country, and, South-South migration with Costa Rica as the major destination country. In a lesser extent, Nicaragua is identified as a transit country given its position in the middle of Central America, and lastly as a destination country for migrants (Ibid).
In order to understand the current case of child migration more profoundly, it is essential to acknowledge the historical patterns or migration trends of the country; this is, because people (adults and children) make migration decisions based on pre-established patterns and narratives (Castles and Miller, 2009). Therefore, once a trend has been previously established, it is easier to understand why these children choose a specific country as their destination.
In the case of Nicaragua, the migration patterns, as well as those of other Central American countries are diverse (IOM, 2001). These migration patterns are the product of a combination of factors such as political, economical and environmental. All these factors can be grouped under three predominant and notorious waves of Nicaraguan migration, however, internal armed conflicts or political-related violence seems to have been one of the most relevant driving factors of Nicaraguans to the United States (Briones, 2013).
According to Orozco (2008), Nicaraguan migration to the United States can be dated back to the 1900s. However, the mass migration of Nicaraguans and their most felt presence took place during the past 36 years. This mass migration occurred in several different
2To consider other dimensions of migration hardly captured by censuses (irregularity; temporary migration and cross-border), it is estimated that the population abroad could represent 800,000 Nicaraguans.
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waves, with the first most notorious wave of migration occurring in the late 70s and 80s, with Costa Rica and the United States being the main destination country (IOM, 2014).
First wave (1979-1989): Civil War, Sandinista Revolution, and counter-revolution.
The 1970s created a platform of elemental importance for the creation of the current migration course in Nicaragua since it was originated during a critical transformation period and consequently brought along regional implications. However, the regional implications it carried along with it, was non-the-less due to the involvement and geopolitical influence of the United States in the Central American Region (IOM, 2001).
The Sandinista Liberation war that was originated in the mid-1970s ended 42 years of Somoza dictatorship. This period of armed conflicts in Nicaragua left a balance of 30,865 deaths, and approximately 31,019 people were injured (Kinloch Tijerino, 2006). The revolutionary victory raised great hopes in the majority of Nicaraguan peace, freedom, work, social welfare and justice (ibid). However, this decade of Sandinista revolution and the “Contra” war that followed brought the first large waves of Nicaraguan migrants who fled mostly to the United States and Costa Rica (Orozco, 2008; Briones, 2013).
During this period of conflict, it is estimated that more than 10,000 Nicaraguans received refugee status in the United States3. This first wave of migrants that entered the United States in this decade was mostly upper-class people, members of the National Guard and Somoza's supporters (Orozco, 2008).
3 In addition to immigrants, many Nicaraguans were granted asylum during these years of conflict in the country.
Interestingly, other countries in the region like Guatemala and El Salvador were also experiencing internal armed conflicts during the 80s, nevertheless Nicaraguans received a prioritized treatment and these other Nationals were not granted
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Second Wave (1990- 1997): Economic consequences
During the post-war decade, the phenomenon of emigration of the 90s onwards, went from being an escape from armed conflict in form of a forced migration sending out asylum seekers, and became a migration due to economic factors.
The extreme measures of structural adjustments created high levels unemployment and deepening of poverty in the country. In other words, this second significant wave of migration that occurred in the 1990s can easily be explained as consequence the so-called
‘transition period’ where structural adjustment measures led to privatization of basic services and the adoption of a social economic model that consequently created great inequality and marginalized groups of small farmers and rural families (Orozco, 2008).
In the early 1990s, the government initiated a privatization effort to transfer more than 100 of Nicaragua's 350 state-owned companies to private ownership. The process included the outright sale, devolution, or liquidation of assets. The government holding company established to privatize state-owned assets initially identified forty companies to be sold within six months and an additional fifty to be returned to their previous owners or liquidated later (Briones, 2013).
Table 3.1 Nicaraguan Born Population Living in United States
Prior to 1980 1980-1989 1990-1999
36,987 100,575 50,358
Source: Immigrants in the United States, 2010: A Profile of America's Foreign-Born Population Available at http://cis.org/2012-profile-of-americas-foreign-born-population#birth
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Third wave (1998): Hurricane Mitch
The Hurricane Mitch of 1998 is the last important migration wave that occurred in Nicaragua (Orozco, 2008). In 1998, Hurricane category five Saffir-Simpson, caused 2,863 deaths and the total damage caused were in the amount of 988 million U.S. dollars, which represented 45 percent of gross domestic product in the country (ELAC, 1999; Perez, 2010).
This devastating natural disaster left thousands homeless and brought along with it serious economic consequences that drove a lot of migrants to the neighboring country of Costa Rica (Orozco, 2008; Briones, 2013).
These last two waves of migration increased the numbers of Nicaraguans in Costa Rica. By the end of the 90s, the percentage of Nicaraguans who migrated to Costa Rica reached 59 percent of Nicaraguans living in a foreign country followed by the United States with 29 percent. This decade started what remains until now the main destination of Nicaraguan migrants (Briones, 2013).
Table 3.2 Nicaraguan Born Population Living in Costa Rica
1973 1984 2000
11,871 45,918 266,461
Source: INEC. Censos Nacionales de Población, 1950 - 2011.
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