Cap-Haitien airport,
Haitians heading to Nicaragua squeezing through one of the entrances of the Cap-Haitien International Airport on Oct. 26, 2023. Photo by Onz Chery for The Haitian Times

CAP-HAITIEN — As soon as the glass door of the Cap-Haitien International Airport opened on a cloudy morning on Oct. 26, about 10 people shoved and pressed against each other to squeeze through. Along with a suitcase or backpack in one hand, some held a yellow folder high in the other hand so it wouldn’t get wrinkled. All of them, intent to travel to what one man called a “bridge” to the United States: Nicaragua.

The man, a 26 year-old mechanic from Gonaives, stood outside the airport with a gray sweater on top of head and sunglasses along with 50 or so others who registered for a trip to Nicaragua. Not wanting his family to know that he was traveling to Nicaragua, he asked to use a pseudonym, Marcellin Laguerre, for this article.

Overview:

An influx of Haitians have been going to Nicaragua, hoping to make it to the Mexico-US border to apply for asylum or wait out parole program approval.

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Email me at onz@haitiantimes.com
Onz Chery is a Haiti correspondent for The Haitian Times. Chery started his journalism career as a City College of New York student with The Campus. He later wrote for First Touch, local soccer leagues in New York and Elite Sports New York before joining The Haitian Times in 2019.