Nicaraguan organizations recall on this National Journalist’s Day that there are no print media in Nicaragua as part of the persecution, censorship, closure of the media, and violations of press freedom committed by the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo.
The Unión Democrática Renovadora (Unamos) denounces that the dictatorship “closed and confiscated all independent media. Nicaragua is the only country on the continent that does not have printed newspapers. Independent journalism in Nicaragua is in exile,” laments the organization.
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«The last repressive measure of the dictatorship was to strip the nationality of more than 300 people. Among them are five media directors and six journalists who, from exile, have been leading high-impact investigations into the regime’s abuses. The measures include the confiscation of their assets and being declared fugitives from justice,” added the Unamos statement.
They also point out that the independent press continues to report “thanks to the journalists’ conviction that they do not accept censorship; even assuming the risks and consequences of reprisals for carrying out their work”.
For its part, the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (Cenidh) recalled the attacks against men and women of the press, who have been attacked by police officers, stripped of their equipment, threatened and even imprisoned by the regime. .
“Today we recognize the value of independent journalists who, with their daily work, through truthful and well-founded denunciation, make it possible to defend human rights. The independent journalism of Nicaragua resists, “says the organization defending human rights.
During 2022, the Ortega-Murillo regime closed 31 media outlets and two media outlets were removed from the cable television grid, one of them international, likewise eight news or opinion programs stopped broadcasting, most of them did not pronounced to avoid reprisals from the regime.
Nicaragua has been going through a political and social crisis since April 2018, which worsened after the controversial general elections of November 7, 2021, in which Ortega was re-elected for a fifth term, fourth in a row and second along with Murillo as vice president. Under this mandate, journalism has been classified as a “high-risk profession” in the Central American country.
