The Inter-American Press Association (IAPA) demanded that the Nicaraguan government “return” the newspaper La Prensa, an independent media outlet that was “usurped” by the authorities, and requested the release of the company’s general manager, Juan Lorenzo Holmann, as well as that of other journalists sentenced to prison.
In a statement, the regional organization demanded that the Government of Daniel Ortega “return” not only La Prensa, but also other media such as Confidencial and the digital TV channel 100% Noticias, “to their respective owners.”
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“We continue to denounce loud and clear the climate of repression, impunity and injustice of a regime that is one of the great executioners of free expression in the Americas,” said IAPA President Jorge Canahuati, a year after the “robbery of the facilities of the newspaper” and the imprisonment of Holmann, regional vice president of the IAPA in Nicaragua.
On August 13, 2021, the Police “illegally raided the offices of the Managua newspaper La Prensa,” the statement recalls. A day later, he adds, Holmann was arrested and on March 31 he was sentenced to nine years in prison.
In addition, the editors of La Prensa reported that “in the midst of a climate of constant harassment against journalists and workers, all the members of the newsroom were forced into exile.”
According to the IAPA, which is based in Miami (Florida, USA), La Prensa was the only printed newspaper that circulated in Nicaragua and now it works digitally.
Carlos Jornet, president of the organization’s Press Freedom Commission, highlighted “the important informative work that the newspaper, founded 96 years ago, continues to carry out, despite the hostility of the regime, the theft of its facilities and the imprisonment of three senior executives. ”.
Canahuati and Jornet also called for the annulment of the convictions of Cristiana Chamorro and Pedro Joaquín Chamorro, members of the La Prensa board of directors and the now-defunct Violeta Barrios de Chamorro Foundation. Both were sentenced to eight and nine years, respectively, points out the hemispheric body.
They also demanded the release of journalists Miguel Mora, sentenced to 13 years; Miguel Mendoza, at 9, and Jaime Arellano, at 13 years old.
The Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (Cenidh) and La Prensa, according to the IAPA, denounced a deterioration in Holmann’s health.
For his part, “as of August 2, Mora had completed 40 days of hunger strike demanding that he be allowed to see his disabled son,” denounces the IAPA.
“Sports journalist Mendoza, convicted of ‘conspiracy,’ has served more than 400 days in prison. Arellano and Pedro Joaquín Chamorro were transferred to house arrest due to health problems,” the statement details.
The Chapultepec Index, an IAPA barometer that measures the performance of institutions in terms of freedom of expression and the press, has included Nicaragua for two consecutive years as one of the three countries in the Americas, along with Venezuela and Cuba, without freedom of the press.
