But in some respects, the Ortega-Murillo regime has gone further than either of them. Nicaragua has aggressively deployed a tool no other regime in the hemisphere has used: manufactured statelessness. Through the CAFTA-DR trade agreement, in effect since around the time Ortega returned to power, Nicaraguan apparel and textiles enter the US duty-free. Remittances are equivalent to 29% of GDP, making Nicaragua one of the more remittance-dependent economies in Latin America. Meanwhile, the economic lifelines that actually sustain the Ortega-Murillo regime remain intact.