After learning of the existence of at least 39 “false antennas” in Nicaragua with which the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo would be conducting espionage on Nicaraguans, the digital marketing and technology expert, Manuel Díaz, told Article 66 that the population can use encrypted mobile applications such as WhatsApp, Signal or Messenger.
An investigation by the organization South Lighthouse, dedicated to technologies at the service of human rights, explains that these antennas allow information to be captured from the cell phones of citizens who are close to them. Díaz recommended that Nicaraguan citizens make their calls and send messages through applications that offer end-to-end encryption so that our communications are secure.
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With the use of encrypted applications to communicate, the expert stated that only the two people (sender and receiver) can see and hear what they are speaking and writing.
«All communication that uses the default technology of the cell phone, that is, text messages (sms) or voice calls (traditional) is not encrypted, it was never updated… that will never be secure. It is not necessary to put these false antennas because the Government has the door open to telephone providers to request the information of a user. I don’t see the need for those antennas,” Diaz said.
In addition, he clarified that although he can intercept calls through secure applications, they will only be able to see the metadata such as the name of the sender, the receiver and the time, but he will not be able to see the content of the message or listen to the communication due to the security of encryption. end to end. “The call by WhatsApp only the person who emits it and who receives it can hear what they say,” she assured.
Díaz stated that the regime has facilities to “spy”, including the Russian base that is installed in Nicaragua, and that these false antennas would not be necessary, “unless comrade (Vladimir) Putin does not share with the commander (Daniel Ortega) your information, your intelligence.”
The technology expert believes that the antennas could be used to “monitor strategic points” to know who is near the site or in specific places or also to “control their people.” “These antennas do not add much more than what the dictatorship already had in its surveillance arsenal,” he concluded.
The antennas are located in the Hugo Chávez roundabout, the Lomas de Tiscapa area, the Chancellery of the Republic, the Managua Augusto C. Sandino International Airport, near the Don Bosco Youth Center, residences that house embassies, as well as stretches of highways. that go from Ciudad Darío to Matagalpa and on the highway that connects this city with Jinotega.
Irregular signals were also recorded at the National Autonomous University of Nicaragua (UNAN-Managua), the Judicial Complex of Managua, District One of the Police, the Jorge Navarro National Penitentiary System, known as “La Modelo”, the bus terminal in the Roberto Huembes Market and sectors surrounding Multicentro Las Américas.
