The dictatorship of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo ordered the closure of Canal RB3 in Río Blanco, municipality of Matagalpa, amid the wave of repression against the Catholic Church in Nicaragua. Yesterday, August 1, the Institute of Telecommunications and Post Office (Telcor) closed six religious radio stations that were administered by the Diocese of Matagalpa, where the bishop is Monsignor Rolando Álvarez, one of the most critical of the Nicaraguan regime.
Journalist David Mendoza, owner of the independent media outlet, was the one who announced to the audience that the Institute of Telecommunications and Post Office (Telcor) sent a letter announcing the decision to withdraw the signal of Canal RB3 from the television grid by township wire.
“Today, August 2, 2022, they have informed the cable company that it removes the channel from the RB3 programming grid, The Milky Zone Channel, and we are going to continue through social networks informing them. It has been a channel full of stories, 18 years reporting in the city of Río Blanco and we will always continue with you, “said Mendoza.
«The road has been very difficult, for me it has not been easy at all. Since childhood we have suffered a lot. God first soon Nicaragua will be democratic, (with) free expression. It is a country that has lived very subdued and we hope in God that he will soon perform a miracle for our people, “he added.
Related news: Editor-in-chief of La Prensa: “Ortega is taking away the right to work from journalists”
According to the communication signed by Carolina Delgado Castellón, deputy director general of Telcor, to Yessenia López Vanegas, administrative manager of Cablevisión Río Blanco; Channel RB3 “does not have authorization from this regulatory body to operate as a local content channel.”
“By virtue of the aforementioned, he requested that, once this communication is received, said channel be removed from the grid of channels authorized by Telcor to his company Cablevisión,” says the letter sent to the cable company.
Refused to ally with the FSLN
Mendoza indicated that about a month ago a “journalist colleague” called him on the phone to recommend that he “ally” with the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) party, the government party, but he replied that he would not become an ally of any party. political party, who was a journalist.
“I am a journalist and I prepared myself to be a journalist, not to ally myself with any political party in Nicaragua. I was amazed when this colleague told me to look for the Sandinistas, to ally myself with them. My job has been to constantly work with people, get all kinds of news out. In this media outlet I always gave Sandinistas and non-Sandinistas the opportunity,” he said.
“Since we started this media political secretaries, some government officials started the attack, not since now; if not forever. They saw the potential that God had in store for me and we went far. I always asked God to keep me in good places and I never thought he would take me so old,” he added.
Persecution against the independent press
At the end of July, the newspaper La Prensa reported that journalists, photographers, editors and other media workers had to leave Nicaragua clandestinely after an escalation of repression by the regime against all its collaborators that triggered arrests, raids, threats and police siege.
The intensification of the state repression against the media’s collaborators included the arrest of two drivers of the media outlet on July 6; They are detained and their whereabouts and possible charges against them are unknown. After these events, other workers had to flee in time and take shelter while their houses were raided and searched by the Police of the Ortega-Murillo dictatorship.
According to data from organizations that defend freedom of the press and expression, more than 140 independent journalists have left Nicaragua in the face of the regime’s escalation of repression against the media that are not under its administration.
