The Nicaraguan journalist Victor Ticay -32 years old and recently released from prison as part of the group of 134 political prisoners after mediation by the United States and transfer to Guatemala – he hardly believes he is free.
Until Wednesday, September 4, the day before his release, he slept on a concrete bed to mitigate the extreme temperatures to which he was subjected.
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During an interview with the Voice of America In the comfort of the hotel where he stays in Guatemala, Ticay remembers those days that are now behind him.
“The concrete felt cool and helped me withstand the horrible heat in the cells, even though they only forced me to wear underwear. I feel like I went from hell to paradise,” says Ticay. “When I woke up in the hotel room, I felt on another level,” he adds.
Ticay was arrested for more than a year for covering a Nicaraguan Catholic Church event in the context of what activists have called “persecution against the clergy.”
Daniel Ortega’s government had sentenced him to eight years in prison for that coverage and charged him with the crimes of “spreading false news,” “conspiracy to undermine national integrity” and “treason.”
“For seventeen months, which is equivalent, if I’m not mistaken, to five hundred and seventeen days in prison, I lived, I’ll describe it to you: hell. Those conditions, that stifling, stressful, horrible heat… in the prison they offer you mats of a certain thickness, but it’s impossible because of the heat. I slept on the tile because it got cold in the early morning,” said the community journalist.
Read also| Nicaragua: Journalist who covered Catholic Church activities sentenced to eight years in prison
Ticay headed the local media outlet The Coveraimed at the community. He was also a correspondent for the Channel 10one of the most watched television channels in Nicaragua.
“I say that I was born again. It’s a drastic change. It’s incomparable. Waking up on the first day here, you can’t imagine it. Seeing the sun rise, feeling the air on your face, it’s something that has no name. I’m grateful to God,” the reporter continued.
Since the start of the socio-political crisis in Nicaragua in 2018 due to failed social security reforms, the government has imprisoned several journalists and closed dozens of media outlets in the Central American country.
The journalist Angel Gahona He was murdered in 2018 and organizations regret the impunity in the case.
According to the organization Independent Journalists and Communicators of Nicaragua (PCIN), More than 200 reporters have left the country to protect his life and integrity.
“I didn’t imagine how dangerous it was to do community journalism. Recording a church activity is not a crime. I don’t think it was a threat to the country, as they painted it. I think in Nicaragua you can be arrested for a crime.” likefor a comment. That’s how dangerous Nicaragua is,” said the journalist.
Following the release of Ticay, the whereabouts of Fabiola Tercero, a journalist and cultural manager, remain unknown, according to the organization of Independent Journalists and Communicators of Nicaragua.
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