MIAMI, United States. – Venezuelan airline Conviasa will fly between Cuba and Nicaragua starting next December 15th, according to information published this Monday by 14ymedio.
“Starting next week, we will begin rescheduled flights,” according to an employee of Conviasa in Havana who spoke to that news outlet. Said “rescheduling” will benefit Cubans who had purchased tickets before but were unable to travel due to restrictions as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We will be rescheduling flights for people who had already purchased ticket. In case of errors, the airline will continue selling tickets to individuals on the regular waiting line,” indicated that employee.
According to 14ymedio, clients who want to purchase tickets after January 1, 2022, have already begun to sign up on Conviasa’s lists at their headquarters in Centro de Negocios Miramar.
On November 22, the government of Nicaragua announced that visa-free travel was being established for Cuban citizens.
“In light of the number of travel requests from our Cuban brothers and sisters who have family members living in Nicaragua, and in order to promote trade, tourism and humanitarian family relations, starting on Monday, November 22, 2021, we are establishing a visa-free practice for all Cuban citizens who wish to come to Nicaragua,” states the official release published by Nicaraguan authorities.
This visa-free practice will incentivize a massive exodus of Cubans who want to leave the island, for they will interpret it as an opportunity to reach and cross the southern border into the United States without having to cross the dangerous borders between Colombia and Costa Rica.
As early as 2019, the regime of Daniel Ortega had relaxed the requirements for Cuban citizens to enter Nicaraguan territory, with the aim of increasing tourism.
For that reason, the Central American country became one of the principal destinations for Cubans traveling abroad to purchase merchandise that they could re-sell in Cuba.
In 2019, there were six weekly flights scheduled between Havana and Managua, and 44,829 Cuban citizens entered Nicaragua, according to the Nicaraguan Institute of Tourism.
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