The Nicaraguan Human Rights Collective Never Again condemned the confiscation of the facilities of Editorial La Prensa by the Nicaraguan regime, which disguised its action in the imposition of the “José Coronel Urtecho Cultural and Polytechnic Center.”
“We join the journalistic team in their demand for the return of their facilities one year after the assault they suffered and the imprisonment of their directors Juan Lorenzo Holmann Chamorro, Cristiana and Pedro Joaquín Chamorro Barrios who are subjected to an arbitrary and unconstitutional deprivation of their freedom, as well as all political prisoners in Nicaragua,” said the Collective based in Costa Rica.
The group of lawyers said they stand in solidarity and recognize the work of the news outlet, “in the midst of the fierce persecution, jail, confiscation and exile of all its newsroom, they continue to stand, because the truth is not silent, confiscating, assaulting, kidnapping and attacking the media and independent journalism.
«Ortega wants to erase the symbol of La Prensa»
For her part, the human rights defender and director of the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (Cenidh), Vilma Núñez, told Article 66 that the Ortega dictatorship has been “following the same pattern that it has used with the assault, robbery and dismantling of all civil organizations, especially those of human rights and journalists.”
He indicated that the regime goes by parts consummating the confiscations of institutions or media, “first they remove the (legal) personality, then they take the facilities and later they go in to steal.”
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“In the case of La Prensa —the Ortega government— they had been occupied for a year and now they come and carry out the assault, the robbery, the crime. They have consummated the violation of freedom of expression », he stressed.
Núñez emphasized that what the dictatorship seeks with the confiscation “is to remove a symbol and they want to erase from people’s memory everything that La Prensa has meant.”
“They —the dictatorship— manage to steal all the goods, but they will not be able to erase from history that one day they will have to write, that they are atrocities that they have committed with all the people,” he said.
In addition, he said that “the barbarism” of Ortega has never been seen in other parts of the world. “Crimes are committed to the extent that they bear names and surnames, that only such a perverse mind can do those things.” he remarked she.
Regime declares itself “unscrupulous thieves”
For a former employee of La Prensa, Ortega’s action is “reprehensible, confirming a brazen theft of the facilities by the government.”
“We already saw this last year (2021) with the inauguration of health centers in the offices of 100% Noticias and Confidencial, so it is a practice that the Ortega-Murillo regime has been carrying out against critical media outlets that do not submit to their official speech,” he said on condition of anonymity.
Related news: They condemn the confiscation of La Prensa: “They want to erase history, but they can never eliminate journalism”
Despite the repressive escalation by Ortega, the journalist stated that “journalists assume a responsibility to continue denouncing Ortega and Murillo and that is not going to change. Buildings and equipment may be stolen, but they will not be able to with our conviction and commitment to continue reporting.
“We are going to continue denouncing and documenting their crimes perpetrated against independent journalism and various sectors, such as the Catholic Church,” he added.
As for whether Ortega has won with this new attack, the source pointed out that the only thing the dictator is achieving “is the repudiation of the Nicaraguan people, of the international community, because with these actions they declare themselves to be unscrupulous thieves.” .
“We know that in the Political Constitution confiscations are prohibited and when democracy is restored in the country we are sure that all the media that have been stripped of their assets will be compensated,” he concluded.
In the morning hours of this Tuesday, August 23, the oldest newspaper in Nicaragua, with 96 years of history, and critical of the Government of Daniel Ortega denounced that its headquarters, located on the north highway, in Managua, woke up without the label.
