“Press freedom is under attack in Nicaragua” It is called the campaign promoted by the organization Reporters Without Borders (RSE) and the influential American newspaper The Washington Post, which this Thursday published —in its printed edition— a whole page with an art about the imprisoned journalists in Nicaragua.
The art is made up of the photographs of Pedro Joaquín Chamorro and Juan Lorenzo Holmann, both members of the board of directors of the newspaper La Prensa; Miguel Mendoza, journalist and sports chronicler; and Jaime Arellano, political commentator. All of them converted into political prisoners by the Ortega regime since 2021, and convicted, mainly, of the crime of conspiracy to undermine national integrity.
The Washington Post joins the campaign: “Press freedom is under attack in Nicaragua” and demands the freedom of political prisoners: Jaime Arellano, Pedro Joaquín Chamorro, Juan Lorenzo Holmann, Miguel Mendoza, Cristiana Chamorro, and Miguel Mora pic.twitter.com/fXHAXe0kaH
– Carlos F Chamorro (@cefeche) July 21, 2022
The campaign is promoted by The Washington Post Press Freedom Partnership, a public service initiative of the prestigious newspaper “to promote press freedom and raise awareness of the rights of journalists around the world”.
Through the initiative they warn that, daily, journalists in Nicaragua are subject to harassment campaigns and arbitrary arrests, their work equipment has been confiscated and they have been forced to flee Nicaragua for their safety. According to the Nicaraguan Independent Journalists and Communicators movement (PCIN), some 120 journalists have opted for exile since the beginning of the crisis, in 2018.
They also denounced that the imprisoned communicators are in inhuman conditions, face false charges with sentences of between seven and thirteen years for doing their honest work.
In addition to Arellano, Chamorro Barrios, Holmann and Mendoza, the regime illegally keeps journalists imprisoned Cristiana Chamorro Barrios, director of La Prensa and former presidential candidate; and to Miguel Mora, director of the 100% Noticias channel.
They are part of more than 180 political prisoners that the Ortega regime maintains in different prison systems. However, it has been taught to those who are in El Chipote, subjecting them to starvation, cold, being cut off and isolated.
Press Complaint
The publication of the international media coincided with the complaint made by the newspaper La Prensa, which revealed that “journalists, editors, photographers and other staff” from its newsroom left the country in the last two weeks to “protect their safety and freedom” in the face of persecution and harassment by the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo.
La Prensa detailed that, “although all the people left irregularly due to fear of being detained at the country’s borders, several had to flee without taking their passports with them or carrying only expired documents, since for months the regime has been has refused to renew the travel documents of independent media journalists.”
The newspaper has accused the dictatorship of unleashing an intense “hunt” and persecution against its staff. The night of last July 6, two newspaper drivers were illegally detained and later the Ortega justice ordered them to be held in custody for up to 90 days, without knowing the charges against them. Both citizens are imprisoned in the cells of the Judicial Assistance Directorate (DAJ), known as El Chipote.
The facilities of La Prensa have been occupied by the Police since August 13, 2021. The dictatorship has also raided the facilities of CONFIDENTIAL, This week and the 100% News channel.
The RSF and Post campaign demands that the Nicaraguan government cease its attacks on the press and allow it to carry out its work without fear of reprisals.
In a recent interview with the program Tonightthe rapporteur for freedom of expression of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), Pedro Vaca Villarreal, denounced a plan to “exterminate journalism as work in Nicaragua”after an increase in persecution against independent journalists.
“The report of raids, persecutions, journalists in their family environments, of any life and relationship is constant. There are symptoms to believe that there is a plan to exterminate journalism, that it disappear as work in Nicaragua,” Vaca warned.
