After the closure of a dozen radio stations managed by the different dioceses of Nicaragua and the confiscation of the facilities of the newspaper La Prensa, the International Broadcasting Association (AIR) “strongly” condemned the actions of the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo against freedom of expression.
“Censorship does not stop in Nicaragua. This August 23, Telcor (Institute of Telecommunications and Post Office of Nicaragua) ordered the cessation of the broadcasts of Radio Stereo Fe 98.5 Mhz of Ocotal. The radio had almost 30 years on the air. On the 22nd, the illegitimate confiscation of the facilities and equipment of Diario La Prensa took place,” the AIR denounced in a statement published on its Twitter account.
The organization points out that the regime consummated the confiscation of all the assets of La Prensa, valued at almost 10 million dollars, one year after the seizure of its newsroom and the arbitrary imprisonment of its general manager, Juan Lorenzo Holmann, accused and convicted for the alleged crimes of money laundering and customs fraud, charges invented by the regime.
“Since the beginning of the social protests in the country in April 2018, the Ortega Murillo regime has closed more than 40 media outlets, forced 140 journalists into exile, and 6 media managers and journalists are deprived of their liberty,” details the AIR.
The organization denounces that the dictatorship and its related groups maintain a “systematic censorship against journalists and the media, as well as for the constant violations of Human Rights and democratic principles in Nicaragua, emphasizing that without these there is no democracy.”
In August, the dictatorship, through Telcor, ordered the closure of radio and television channels managed by the Nicaraguan Catholic Church, mainly from the Diocese of Matagalpa and Estelí, both under the direction of Monsignor Rolando Álvarez, one of the the most critical bishops of the Ortega-Murillo administration. The prophetic voice of the cardinal was silenced by the regime when he was locked up in his family’s home in Managua after being besieged for 15 days in the episcopal see of Matagalpa.
AIR is an organization that brings together private radio and television associations in America, as institutional partners, and television channels and radio stations as individual partners, in various countries and regions. It has official status associated with UNESCO, maintains mutual cooperation relations with the Organization of American States and is an Associate Member of the Inter-American Telecommunications Commission; of the International Telecommunication Union and the World Press Freedom Committee, among others.
