In an unprecedented action in Latin America, 27 international and national press organizations signed an agreement and drew up an action plan to keep up and focus the pressure Nicaraguato recover freedom of expression and information, After the wave of repression and censorship imposed since 2021 by the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo.
The initiative is supported by the Inter-American Press Association (IAPA), the International Broadcasting Association (AIR), the World Association of News Editors (WAN-IFRA), Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and the Ibero-American Telecommunications Organization (OTI). This is unprecedented as these organizations, along with entities from 15 Latin American countries, signed on April 19th a public commitment with concrete measures that they will maintain until democracy is restored Nicaragua.
This declaration coincides with the fourth anniversary of the deepening of the institutional and social crisis Nicaraguawhen more than 335 opponents were killed in clashes with national police and paramilitary groups.
After harsh repression in April 2018, the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo solidified their position, created a legal framework that supported a specific wave of censorship and repression of the freedom of expression and informationas part of the campaign for the 2021 elections.
“Through a legal machine that has encompassed laws on foreign agents, cybercrime and peoples’ sovereignty, the government has imprisoned opponents, prosecuted dissidents, shut down civil society organizations, expelled journalists and seized universities and media,” the organizations recalled.
That’s currently appreciated Nicaragua there are about 170 political prisoners. Among them are Cristiana Chamorro and Pedro Joaquín Chamorro, board members of the newspaper La Prensa and the Violeta Barrios de Chamorro Foundation for the free expressionsentenced to eight and nine years in prison respectively.
As DIARIO DE CUBA reported, the Nicaraguan regime treated the Chamorro family viciously last March. In addition to the conviction of the two brothers, in fast-track processes, the parliament controls Ortega and Murillo decided to disband both the Violeta Chamorro Foundation and the historic Pedro Joaquín Chamorro Association of Journalists, in a decision that also affected election observation boards, human rights defenders and an environmental center.
journalist organizations and free expression They recalled in their statement of April 19 that “one of the worst attacks on the press took place in August 2021” when the military takeover and closure of the La Prensa facilities and the arrest of their director general, Juan Lorenzo Holmann Chamorro, who is currently Vice President of the IAPA Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information.
In the case of Holmann Chamorro, as in all closed-door trials of dissidents, Holmann was sentenced to nine years in prison for false crimes and without due process.
“The court ruling also orders the custody of La Prensa’s assets by the police, which amounts to an unlawful confiscation and a violation of Article 44 of La Prensa’s political constitution Nicaragua‘ the organizations recalled.
Actions announced on April 19 include the press organizations and free expression They will mobilize to demand that international funding be stopped for the Nicaraguan regime, that more countries welcome exiles from the Central American country, and encourage funding for independent journalism conducted from exile.
More than 120 Nicaraguan journalists have gone into exile in Costa Rica. For example, for the neighboring country, the journalist Carlos Fernando Chamorro had to leave secretly after being forced to shut down the operations of Confidencial, one of the digital media outlets with the widest reach in the country.
Organizations with their decision to get involved and act together in the face of the general crisis Nicaraguaalso announced that they will turn to the United Nations and the OAS to demand that spaces remain open for discussion, analysis and denunciation of human rights abuses in the Central American country.
Finally, they will also lobby the United States and the European Union to ensure that Washington and Brussels do not lose interest in what is happening in the United States Nicaraguagiven the international context that pays close attention to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.