The Nicaraguan Independent Journalists and Communicators movement (PCIN) reported this Wednesday that they registered 175 attacks on freedom of the press and freedom of expression in the Central American country during the first quarter of 2022.
In a report, the PCIN’s Observatory of Attacks on the Freedom of the Independent Press of Nicaragua indicated that it documented 78 complaints, “which involve 175 attacks on freedom of expression and freedom of the press.”
In that period, at least 75 journalists were attacked, including 29 women, he said.
“The main aggressors identified are: the Police, the Judiciary, official propagandists and people related to the FSLN (governing Sandinista National Liberation Front),” he said.
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Harassment (40 cases), stigmatization (35), physical and verbal attacks (17), threats (13) and judicial harassment (12) were the main types of attacks on freedom of the press and freedom of expression during the first quarter, according to the report.
The PCIN observed that the first three months of the year were marked by the convictions of journalists Miguel Mendoza and Miguel Mora, as well as members of the board of directors of the newspaper La Prensa: Cristiana Chamorro, Pedro Joaquín Chamorro, and Juan Lorenzo Holmann Chamorro.
In addition, the student leader and graduate in Social Communication, Lesther Alemán, and the journalism student Samantha Jirón.
ILLEGALIZATION, JAIL, EXILE Journalists
“Emblematic cases were also the cancellations of legal entities of union organizations and/or promoters of freedom of expression and freedom of the press, such as the Association of Journalists of Nicaragua (APN), the Violeta Barrios de Chamorro Foundation and Pen Internacional Nicaragua. “, I note.
“This violates the right of association and criminalizes the work of these organizations,” he added.
In the first quarter of this year, the PCIN also documented six cases of journalists who were forced into exile: three men and three women.
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Four went into exile in the United States and two in Costa Rica, according to the report.
The PCIN also registered a case of femicide against a young communicator from the department of Jinotega (north).
After the protests against the government of President Daniel Ortega, which broke out in April 2018, the authorities keep the facilities of the newspaper La Prensa, the oldest in the country, occupied.
Also the newsrooms of the television channel 100% Noticias and the digital newspaper Confidencial.
In addition, the authorities have closed more than 20 local media outlets and are currently exerting economic pressure against television channels 10 and 12 and the radio station Radio Corporación, according to the Nicaraguan Never Again Human Rights Collective.
At least 120 Nicaraguan journalists have decided to go into exile since April 2018, mainly to Costa Rica, the United States and Spain, including the 2021 Ortega y Gasset Prize winner, Carlos Fernando Chamorro, according to data from that organization.
Nicaragua has been going through a political and social crisis since April 2018, which has been accentuated after the controversial general elections on November 7, in which President Ortega was re-elected for a fifth term, fourth consecutive and second together with his wife, Rosario Murillo, as vice president, with his main contenders in prison.
