The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) released this Tuesday an action plan in conjunction with some twenty other organizations where request Various pressure measures against the government of Daniel Ortega due to the situation of “criminalization” and “judicialization” experienced by journalists in the Central American country.
Among the measures that the IAPA will request as a whole, are requesting multilateral organizations to condition the granting of credits and non-humanitarian aid to the Ortega government “until the political prisoners are released” and the facilities are returned to the prisoners. media that are taken over by the Nicaraguan Police, such as the media 100%Noticias, Confidencial and La Prensa.
The IAPA and the other organizations also ask the UN, the Organization of American States (OAS) and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), to open spaces for debate to define actions that allow democracy to be restored and fully valid of human rights in Managua.
On the other hand, they ask the recipient governments of the “exodus of journalists Nicaraguans” who welcome them and offer them humanitarian, technological and economic cooperation so that they can continue reporting from exile.
Similarly, they urge the governments of the United States and the European Union not to dissipate their interest in Nicaragua due to the climate of “international confrontation over the invasion of Ukraine”.
The statement on Nicaragua was given as part of a mid-year meeting of the IAPA where it is used to analyze the current panorama of reporters in Latin America. In one space, the organization allowed relatives of imprisoned journalists in Nicaragua to comment on the situation in which they find themselves and the “arbitrariness” to which they have been subjected.
Renata Holmann, daughter of the general manager of the newspaper La Prensa, Juan Lorenzo, who is in prison after have been found guiltystated that the last time he spoke with his father was the day before the newspaper raid in August 2021.
“He has been detained for 249 days. They have kept him isolated and incommunicado, only six times he has been allowed access to a family member, but without contact with his defense attorney,” Renata denounced during the IAPA meeting.
He indicated that his father is in a small sealed cell under inhumane conditions. “There is mold on the walls and he does not have access to the open air,” he added, expressing his concern because he points out that his health has deteriorated and he has developed new diseases.
Even so, Renata stated that Holmann remains “firm” and proud that the newspaper La Prensa that he directed continues to report, although no longer on paper.
“La Prensa has 19% of the staff that continues reporting and that gives my dad hope. He sees the importance of defending freedom of expression,” he added.
On the other hand, former political prisoner Lucía Pineda Ubau, director of 100%Noticias, also participated in the forum and denounced the conditions in which they are the journalists imprisoned in Managua, among them Miguel Mora, the sports writer Miguel Mendoza, among others.
Regarding Miguel Mora, founding director of 100%Noticias, Ubau stressed that, as during his first arrest in 2018, he has been isolated and is not allowed visitors.
mentioned house arrest to which the presidential candidate and former director of the Violeta Barrios de Chamorro Foundation, Cristiana Chamorro, has been subjected, “which has been criminalized for being supportive in obtaining economic resources for the media in Nicaragua.”
“Her crime has been to be supportive when managing her mother’s Foundation that obtained resources for the media and its professionalization,” said Ubau.
The journalist mentioned that Ortega has “brutally” attacked journalists through repressive laws that have left them with a kind of “civil death.”
“We ask the IAPA to continue taking steps to make the situation visible,” said Ubau.
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