The Association of Journalists of Guatemala (APG) condemned the retention and expulsion of columnist Irma Velásquez Nimatuj when she tried to enter the country for academic reasons. The organization also expressed solidarity with the Nicaraguan journalistic union in the face of the regime’s “attack” against freedom of expression.
The union expressed its rejection of “the action of detaining and denying entry to Nicaragua to the journalist and anthropologist by the Nicaraguan government,” while at the same time showing solidarity “with the journalistic union of that sister nation, since the Ortega dictatorship the attack against the press continues,” the organization said in a statement published on its social networks.
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Velásquez managed to inform the Nicaraguan historian Horacio Cabezas of what had happened, through an email that he was able to send minutes after his retention. “I came to Managua for a meeting and when I got off the plane they stopped me and took everything from me. I could only keep the phone. An agent of the regime detained me and took everything from me, “said the journalist.
This morning the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and opposition organizations denounced the arrest of the journalist who was transferred to Panama. So far, the Ortega dictatorship has not given any public justification for the reasons for her arrest.
“The Office of the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner received information about the arrest by Nicaraguan authorities of the Guatemalan columnist and anthropologist. Both offices take the opportunity to reiterate their call to the authorities to stop arbitrary arrests and harassment against people who actively participate in public life, “said Michelle Bachelet’s office.
Related news: Ortega regime denies entry to Guatemalan journalist and sends her on a direct flight to Panama
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Guatemala explained that the journalist is in Panama, to where she was transferred after being detained and expelled by the Migration authorities in Nicaragua. Velásquez has a degree in Journalism and Communication Sciences from the Universidad San Carlos de Guatemala. She too, she studied a master’s degree in Social Anthropology and obtained a doctorate as an anthropologist at the University of Texas, Austin, United States.
The APG demands that human rights and freedom of expression be respected in the country, in addition to showing its support for the new package of sanctions that will soon be applied to the regime and that “finally condemns the repression of the Nicaraguan authorities.”
