After the United States warned of the sanctions it will impose on airlines that encourage the migration of Cubans through Nicaragua, Aruba Airlines has suspended its service between Havana and Managua. The Venezuelan-backed company was the only one, along with Conviasa, to maintain flights between the two countries after other airlines such as Air Century and Sky High canceled their routes.
Although Aruba Airlines has not made an official statement, a journalist from the news channel Telemundo said on Wednesday that the travel agencies that marketed flights on the company’s planes were no longer offering tickets on the Cuba-Nicaragua route. As explained, only those who had already purchased their tickets before the route was canceled can travel.
With the exception of companies that operate flights between Managua and Havana with a stopover in a third country, such as the Mexican companies Viva Aerobus or Aeroméxico, Conviasa is the only company that has ignored the US warning and continues to maintain flight frequencies between the two countries.
On November 21, the United States government announced that it would implement a visa restriction policy
On November 21, the United States government announced that, in order to control the entry of Cubans across the border with Mexico, it would impose a visa restriction policy on the owners and senior officials of airlines operating charter flights between Cuba and Nicaragua. The first step in a long journey that has become a lucrative business for both the region’s regimes and human traffickers.
According to the State Department, these airlines sold tickets at “extortion prices” (up to $4,000 per person for a trip from Havana to Managua) to migrants who did not meet the legal requirements to enter or remain in the U.S. territory – the destination during their trip – are missing – and that they often have to expect deportation proceedings at the end.
Three days after the announcement, several airlines connecting Cuba and Nicaragua began suspending their charter flights. This is the case of Air Century and Sky High, which have canceled all flights planned for the coming months.
A month earlier, the Haitian government reported banning flights between Port-au-Prince and Managua, a common route among Haitians who, like Cubans, intend to reach the United States. However, it is not known whether the measure is a response to secret negotiations between Washington and the Caribbean island’s authorities to stop the flow of migrants.
On the other hand, the Cuban Ambassador to Russia, Julio Garmendia, reported this Thursday an agreement between the two countries to establish a route between Saint Petersburg and Cayo Coco (Ciego de Ávila) and between Havana and Moscow at the end of the year. .
“At the end of December it is planned to resume direct Aeroflot flights of the Rossiya airline between the capitals of both countries and every ten days from Saint Petersburg to Cayo Coco,” he explained.
The diplomat’s announcement comes in response to the agreement between Havana and Moscow to promote Russian tourism on the island
The diplomat’s announcement comes in response to the agreement between Havana and Moscow to promote Russian tourism on the island, which so far has not borne all the fruit both governments expected.
For its part, the Spanish company Iberojet will stop its flights to Havana in 2024. As an employee of the company confirmed to 14ymedio, it will no longer have connection to the island from January 15 and it is unknown when it will resume operations. However, they will open two routes to Santa Clara, explained the same source, from Madrid and from Lisbon, although “from next summer”.
The airline already suspended its Madrid-Santiago de Cuba route last September, barely a year after its opening, but this time it is an action that will take place in the middle of the high season and that shows the debacle of foreign tourism on the Island.
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