The American newspaper The Washington Post joined the campaign entitled “Press freedom is under attack in Nicaragua”, an initiative that demands the freedom of six independent journalists imprisoned by the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo.
“Every day, Nicaraguan journalists find themselves subjected to harassment campaigns, arbitrary arrests, and death threats. Their cameras are confiscated as methods of censorship and repression of the reports of independent journalists”, denounces the publication of the North American newspaper.
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As for the imprisoned journalists, they lament that the dictatorship “denies due process, the journalists are under inhuman conditions and face false charges with sentences ranging from seven to 13 years just for reporting honesty. Many media professionals have had to flee Nicaragua to protect their lives,” says the publication supported by Reporters Without Borders.
Through the campaign, they demand that the Nicaraguan regime “stop the persecution against journalists and release those in prison who have suffered reprisals for carrying out their work.” The support is directed to the journalists Jaime Arellano, Pedro Joaquín Chamorro, Juan Lorenzo Holmann, Miguel Mendoza, Cristiana Chamorro, and Miguel Mora, who are isolated and presenting deterioration in their health, according to what their relatives have denounced.
The most recent report by Voces del Sur indicated that in 2022 they have registered 73 cases of violations of press freedom; 65 were perpetrated against the media, which is equivalent to 89% of the total cases, and 8 were committed against natural persons, which represents 11%.
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“Of the total number of registered cases, these fell among 11 victims (6 natural persons, 5 media outlets). Of the natural persons, four are of the masculine gender and two of the feminine gender, ”said the organization’s report.
In July, the Ortega-Murillo dictatorship intensified the repression against the independent press, the organization Nicaraguan Independent Journalists and Communicators (PCIN) denounced that in early July they documented an “increase in persecution” against men and women of the press independent in the country.
For PCIN, the situation of the independent press in Nicaragua is “serious” and they exhorted the regime to “please stop what they started more than a decade ago, which was the rounding up of the media, but also aggressions, which at this time are translated into crimes committed against men and women of the press».
