Former diplomats, journalists and members of Nicaraguan civil society condemned the consummation of the assault on the newspaper La Prensa. Daniel Ortega’s regime set up its José Coronel Urtecho Cultural and Polytechnic Center. Installations taken from August 13, 2021.
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.
Related news: Regime completes assault on La Prensa and sets up a cultural center in its facilities
The former ambassador to the Organization of American States (OAS), Arturo McFields, condemned this new outrage against La Prensa, pointing out that “it hurts the soul to see the robbery in broad daylight of the oldest newspaper in Nicaragua@laprensa».
“They removed the letters and want to erase the story —but— They will never be able to eliminate journalism!” added the former Nicaraguan diplomat through his Twitter account.
For his part, the journalist and director of the Confidencial media outlet and of the Esta Semana program, Carlos Fernando Chamorro, said that Ortega wants to “launder his crime and baptizes it as the “José Coronel Cultural Center.”
“In 1973, the poet José Coronel Urtecho wrote: “for the conscience of the country, when La Prensa stops coming out, it is as if nothing happened, or everything was a lie,” quoted Chamorro, exiled for the second time in Costa Rica.
Cenidh: «The regime cannot erase the importance that La Prensa has had
The Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (Cenidh) joined the rejection of the dictatorship’s attack against La Prensa. He also reminded Ortega and Murillo that despite the assault on the newspaper “it cannot erase the importance and prominence that it has had @laprensa along the history”.
He emphasized that Ortega “will not be able to stain their contribution to truth and justice, they will be able to take everything away from them, but it will always be the daily life of Nicaraguans.”
Related news: La Prensa denounces “confiscation” of its building and assets by the dictatorship
“Our solidarity with the team that, even from exile, continues to fight to inform the population and the world about the crimes that the regime commits. You are true defenders of human rights and in that fight we will continue together until peace and freedom come to Nicaragua,” the organization concluded.
One day before the consummation of the robbery of La Prensa, the outlet would have denounced that the Nicaraguan authorities carried out a “de facto confiscation” of its assets, a year after the National Police forcefully occupied its facilities and arrested its manager. General, Juan Lorenzo Holmann Chamorro.
“For several days, regime operators have been carrying out construction works and moving some of the machinery and equipment. With these actions, the Ortega Murillo regime concretes the de facto confiscation of the assets of the industrial establishment of Editorial La Prensa,” reported the newspaper, which is now only published in digital format.
Despite the censorship imposed by Ortega, the imprisonment of its general manager Juan Lorenzo Holmann and other directors, as well as the forced exile to which most of its journalists and collaborators have been forced, the media has not stopped reporting the crisis. politics in the country.
