The dictatorships of Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela are demanding fewer sanctions and more privileges. To that end, they have fabricated the false narrative that the sanctions imposed upon them are causing mass emigration. This idea has even gained popularity among intellectuals, leftwing presidents and even American politicians. 

But it is a lie. The main causes of forced and desperate emigration from these countries are the repression, exclusion and illicit self-enrichment routinely practiced by the ruling elites in Managua, Havana and Caracas. Seven million Venezuelan migrants, among others, attest to this tragedy. 

In Venezuela, citizens suffer criminal violence, state repression, and economic devastation. The homicide rate per 100,000 inhabitants is 40, now the highest in Latin America. Out-of-control inflation is also forcing people to leave. Venezuela’s own central bank admits to an 86.7 percent inflation rate in the first four months of 2023, and the real figure is likely much higher. 

In Nicaragua, the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega has confiscated the properties of more than 3,000 non-governmental organizations, including the Red Cross and Caritas. Legal certainty does not exist there, and the right to own private property is dying. Ortega released and exiled 222 political prisoners in February 2023. Between February and June, he is expected to detain 100 addition people arbitrarily; by the end of 2023, he could easily triple the number. 

According to the Cuban Observatory for Human Rights, 72 percent of Cubans live in extreme poverty — that is, on $1.90 per day or less. This is the result of 64 years of dictatorship and corruption. 

Despite Cuba’s reputation for training doctors, it is not easy for Cubans to find medical specialists. All or nearly all of them have left. The Castro-Canel dictatorship sends its best doctors and specialists around the world as a form of soft-power diplomacy. For Cubans back home, it’s every man for himself.

According to the organization Prisoners Defenders, as of February 2023, 1,066 political prisoners were registered in Cuba. Civic protest is a risk, and criticism of the dictatorship is a crime. 

The regimes of Cuba and Nicaragua are leading the attacks on religious freedom in the Americas. Both autocracies total more than 1,500 attacks on faith and parishioners. A crime without punishment. 

Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela are all in the red index of the Reporters Without Borders ranking. Venezuelans live in a climate of restricted information, in which government measures threaten the very exercise of independent journalism. In Nicaragua, journalists live in hiding or in exile. In Cuba, the new penal code gives the green light to censorship and harassment. 

Meanwhile, more than 56 million people suffer from hunger in Latin America, according to a report from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. Venezuela (22.9 percent) and Nicaragua (18.6 percent) lead the rankings. This is not a coincidence. And even as their people starve, Ortega and Maduro are lovers of imported meat and exotic cuts.

The migratory crisis is being approached from multiple perspectives, which is a good thing. But the fundamental cause that cannot be forgotten is that bad governments force citizens to risk their lives and run away to find a better life.  

The lack of a clear and firm policy to respond to the oldest dictatorships in the Americas will continue to fuel the migratory hemorrhage.

Arturo McFields is a former Nicaraguan ambassador to the Organization of American States. He is an exiled journalist and former member of the Peace Corps of Norway (FK).