The Vice President of Nicaragua, Rosario MurilloHe said this Friday that the international news network CNN en Español was blocked in the Central American country for committing “foreign interference.”
Murillo, wife of President Daniel Ortega, declared through official media that The broadcast of CNN in Spanish was blocked last Wednesday in Nicaragua, after 25 years, under the argument that it violated the controversial Sovereign Security Law, approved in 2015.
“The same law defines as threats to sovereign security all act of foreign interference in national affairsas well as any illicit act or activity that threatens the integral development of the person, the family and the community,” said the first lady, without specifying which content or content of CNN en Español would have violated that norm.
CNN announced that it will continue the service through its portal and YouTube channel and that it had no response after contacting the private international cable operating companies.
Ortega governs for the fourth consecutive term and, in these sixteen years, has closed 54 media outlets, newspapers, radio stations, television channels and digital media, some through the cancellation of their operating licenses, others through economic suffocation and, most recently, through the seizure of military manual of their premises and the confiscation of their property.
Telcor executes lockdown
The blocking of CNN en Español broadcasts occurred as of Wednesday night, and was executed by the Nicaraguan Institute of Telecommunications and Post Office (Telcor).
Telcor, a regulatory entity, alleged that “it has been verified that the content transmitted by the CNN Channel in Spanishthrough the subscription television network of its represented, contravenes, violates and injures the legal norms.
Despite criticism at the national and international level, Murillo defended the decision and assured that Telcor acted in accordance with Nicaraguan law. The regulatory body is headed by Nahima Díaz Flores, daughter of Police Chief Francisco Díaz, cons-in-law of Ortega and Murillo.
“Telcor is obliged to ensure the protection, defense and preservation of the principles, rights and guarantees established in the Political Constitution and other laws on the matter,” said the vice president.
“We wanted to refer to the issue and make it clear that national sovereignty is not discussed, it is defended, and that is what we are doing every day,” the first lady stressed.
SIP: “Another grotesque example of censorship
The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) said the blockade is “another grotesque example of censorship and persecution” to international media, after the “elimination” of independent Nicaraguan journalism.
IAPA President Jorge Canahuati said that “the regime continues with its process of isolation, this time by attacking international media after eliminated independent Nicaraguan journalism”.
At the next IAPA Assembly in Madrid, from October 27 to 30, the organization that defends freedom of the press and expression will address the role played by private telecommunications companies that are forced by authoritarian governments to block signals and pages national and international media websites.
The president of the IAPA’s Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information, Carlos Jornet, considered “it is evident that the regime scrutinizes and continues to close the fence on the communication spaces that remain and those that manage to penetrate the country.”
Jornet, journalistic director of La Voz del Interior de Córdoba (Argentina), opined that “it is a serious violation of the fundamental rights to freedom of expression and of the press.”
