The president of the Inter-American Press Association (IAPA), Jorge Canahuati, demanded from the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo the “reestablishment of democracy” in Nicaragua and valued as a “starting point” an amnesty so that the inmates of awareness.
In his end-of-year message, Canahuati emphasized that during 2021 Nicaragua experienced “the most serious violations against freedom of the press and expression” in all of the Americas. With journalists, opposition leaders and directors of non-governmental organizations imprisoned and without procedural rights, “only an amnesty” could be “the starting point to try to restore democracy in Nicaragua,” he added.
But the Ortega and Murillo regime remains unshakable in the face of multiple calls for freedom for political prisoners and on Christmas Eve it did not include any criminal of conscience among the thousand convicts who were released.
In Canahuati’s opinion, “the most palpable example of the subjugation of press freedom” in Nicaragua was the raid on the newspaper The Press. Since this means of communication that has survived dictatorships, earthquakes, economic boycotts and even the assassination of its director, Pedro Joaquín Chamorro in 1978; he was forced to fire more than 120 workers and his general manager, Juan Lorenzo Hollman, has been in prison for more than four and a half months and his health has deteriorated.
“It is impressive that, almost 44 years later, the Chamorro family continues to pay the price of facing dictatorships. The brothers Cristiana and Pedro Joaquín Chamorro Barrios are deprived of their freedom and their other brother, Carlos Fernando, went into exile in Costa Rica to evade the repressive tsunami of the Ortega, ”Canahuati pointed out.
Since last June, the owner of the channel has also been imprisoned 100% News and presidential candidate, Miguel Mora, the sports writer, Miguel Mendoza and the television commentator, Jaime Arellano; all accused of “conspiracy to undermine national sovereignty.”
In addition, Canahuati warned, “some 50 journalists have received court summons and, in the face of constant threats, many were forced to leave the country.”
Journalists in “a situation of extreme vulnerability”
The IAPA message also cites the Office of the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), which in 2021 registered some 65 cases of journalists in situations of extreme vulnerability and risk. In addition, the IACHR granted precautionary measures to some 49 media workers CONFIDENTIAL, Divergentes, Radio Darío and La Costeñísima.
“With its repressive escalation, the Ortega-Murillo regime last year manufactured several laws to penalize any hint of criticism and opposition. The Foreign Agents Law, aimed at blocking organizations that monitor human rights and freedom of expression, was used to achieve the closure of the Violeta Barrios de Chamorro Foundation (FVBCh), ”says the IAPA text.
Since May, several employees of the FVBCh have been arrested and, on June 2, the house arrest of its president, Cristiana Chamorro Barrios, was ordered. At the time of her arrest, she led the popularity polls among the presidential candidates who would face Ortega in November. In the end, all the candidates with the most popular support were imprisoned.
Meanwhile, “President Ortega maintains a hostile and stigmatizing speech against the 167 political prisoners whom he calls” traitors to the homeland. ” Ortega has publicly referred to these prisoners as “Sons of bitches of US imperialism” and at the summit of ALBA countries, held in Cuba two weeks ago, he warned that he would not free anyone.
“In June, as part of the IAPA’s work in favor of press freedom, we carried out a virtual mission with which we collected testimonies from journalists, media executives, opposition leaders, academics, businessmen, representatives of civil society and of the Catholic Church. All of them, without exception, asked us to maintain the international complaint and support for Nicaraguan journalists, ”the organization concludes.
