The Inter-American Press Association (IAPA) called this Tuesday to “close ranks” against “the Ortega-Murillo dictatorship” of Nicaragua for the recent sentences imposed on journalists and opponents, and announced that it will outline an action plan with concrete measures to prevent follow the “subjugation” of freedoms in that country.
“We are facing one of the fiercest dictatorships in Latin American history,” Jorge Canahuati, president of the regional organization based in Miami (USA), said in a statement.
“We must close ranks to prevent the Nicaraguan regime from continuing to restrict the freedoms of citizens and destroying the rule of law,” added Canahuati, referring to the president and vice president of Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo, respectively.
Carlos Jornet, president of the IAPA’s Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information, announced for his part that at the organization’s next meeting, to be held from April 19 to 21, an “action plan with specific measures ” on the situation in Nicaragua.
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“Beyond the permanent denunciation and the solidarity and unity of the continental journalistic community, we are going to work to develop an action plan with concrete measures that help neutralize the subjugation of the regime against the individual and social freedoms of Nicaraguans,” advanced.
In the statement published this Tuesday, the IAPA refers to the eight-year prison sentence imposed this Monday on the opposition and journalist Cristiana Chamorro Barrios, who has been under house arrest since June 2, 2021.
Judge Luden Martín Quiroz sentenced Chamorro for the crimes of money laundering, goods and assets, improper appropriation and retention, abusive management and ideological falsehood.
Chamorro is a member of the board of directors of the newspaper La Prensa, a former presidential candidate and former president of the Violeta Barrios de Chamorro Foundation (FVBCh), details the IAPA.
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The same Monday began the trial against Juan Lorenzo Holmann Chamorro, general manager of La Prensa and regional vice president of the organization in Nicaragua, imprisoned since August 14, 2021.
On March 21, he adds, Walter Gómez, former administrator of the FVBCh, and Marcos Fletes, former accountant of the organization, were sentenced to 13 years in prison each.
Likewise, Pedro Vásquez, driver of Cristiana Chamorro, was sentenced to seven years. Since last February, journalists Miguel Mora and Miguel Mendoza, respectively, have been serving sentences of 13 and nine years, the statement details.
The IAPA’s Chapultepec Index, which measures the performance of a country’s institutions in terms of freedom of expression and the press, has included Nicaragua for two consecutive years as one of the three countries in the Americas, along with Venezuela and Cuba, no freedom of the press.
