Article 66 journalist Slicht Villachica Mena went into exile in Panama after being the victim of persecution, siege, robbery and death threats from the Daniel Ortega regime and his sympathizers. The communicator decided to leave Nicaragua to protect his physical integrity. He is currently in Panama and crossed the Nicaragua-Costa Rica and Costa Rica-Panama borders by sidewalk.
On the day of the 2021 general voting, Villachica went to the Voting Center located in the Colegio Benjamín Zeledón in District III of Managua. Upon entering the center, he was requested by an official of the Supreme Electoral Council (CSE), a man and a woman, both sympathizers of the regime that he identified as members of the Citizen Participation Councils (CPC), these two people questioned him about his presence in the place, they saw the card that identified him as a journalist for this media outlet and they took his data.
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The CSE official expelled him from the Voting Center, preventing him from doing his job. A few days later he was the victim of the theft of his cell phone on public roads when he was outside a pharmacy in Barrio El Recreo in Managua. Two motorcyclists with helmets pointed their guns at him and stole his cell phone. Both motorcycles carried two flags of the Frente Sandinistas de Libera Nacional (FSLN), the ruling party, on the front.
«I began to notice an increase in the harassment of supporters of the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo. I had already been the victim of robbery and harassment during the general electoral process of 2021. It was a situation that I considered dangerous,” said Slicht Villachica.
The journalist also received messages from false profiles through social networks with death threats and insults against him. He tried to isolate himself and not leave his house, but the calm was momentary.
In the months before his exile, he noticed that the pipe that distributed water did not reach his home due to the interruption of the service. A brother of the journalist asked those in charge what was happening and they told him that “your family is not on the list to distribute water,” forcing them to buy water in neighboring neighborhoods.
“One day I confronted one of the men because he was recording me when I was telling him that it is everyone’s right to receive water. The CPCs themselves told me that he was a coup plotter. From there the siege intensified », he assured.
«On one occasion one of the CPCs arrived and asked me what I was doing in Article 66 and that they knew that I worked for a coup plotter, that was blowing the shit out of the government. Then they told me: “we have you pending, we have you on the list, we have you in our sights” », he added.
The next day there was a delivery of food packages on the street where he lived. He was on the porch of his house, two men who were involved in that propaganda activity got out of a truck and with a marker were threateningly banging on the gate of his house. “We have you watched, you are not afraid, it seems that you have grabbed a little egg, you do not understand,” they told him.
«After that event I was no longer safe in my house, I made the decision to go into exile and it was very difficult to leave my family. Thanks to life I could do it and I didn’t think twice, I left Nicaragua on June 10 », he affirmed. He said his family hasn’t told him about any suspicious activity that would indicate they’re looking for him. “It seems that everything was because I was at home,” he said.
Slicht Villachica has worked in various media outlets and in 2021 became part of the team of editors of Article 66. He has been practicing journalism for 10 years.
