The fragile and alarming situation of the independent press in Nicaragua, a victim of persecution and censorship, was highlighted at the press conference. Conference hosted this week by the Inter-American Press Association (SIP, for Spanish acronym)Based in Miami, USA.
The country is experiencing systematic persecution of journalists and media outlets under the Daniel Ortega regime, and several professionals have been convicted, imprisoned or exiled to escape censorship.
At the meeting, a manifesto signed by 27 international organizations defending journalism prepared an action plan for the country’s return to a free press, ensuring citizens’ freedom of expression and providing access to reliable information.
Censorship in Nicaragua is one of the region’s problems
The IAPA conference, held April 19-21, condemned the growing attacks on press freedom in Latin America.
Of the at least 30 journalists and media workers on duty in the first quarter of 2022, 14 were in the region.
And even 7 journalists died in UkraineMexico remains the most dangerous country in the world for the media. eight murders Between January and March 2022.
The chairman of the association, Jorge Canahuati, in his speech at the opening of the meeting, stated that the profession is facing a “disappointing landscape” on the continent due to the crisis in the industry and the “massive disrespect” to the work of journalists and journalists. media by the authorities
Amid the atrocities unfolding in the region, the situation in Nicaragua received special attention at the IAPA event due to increased pressure on independent media and critics of the government.
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Carlos Jornet, chairman of the party’s Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information, assessed that the country’s president wanted independent journalism to be “destroyed”.
“Daniel Ortega, do not continue to betray the ideal of freedom of the Nicaraguan people that you have defended and now brutally suppressed,” said Jornet.
According to him, it is estimated that 75 journalists and media owners have been arbitrarily detained since June 2021.
In addition to the arrests, the media in Nicaragua face intimidation and harassment from the government, with the implementation of extreme measures such as improper conviction.
The regime also uses social media to spread disinformation and attack dissidents.
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Family members describe censorship and brutality in Nicaragua
According to the IAPA, the institutional and social crisis in Nicaragua has worsened from April 2018, when more than 335 dissidents were killed in clashes with the National Police and paramilitary groups.
The Daniel Ortega regime has hardened its position in the face of demands and sanctions imposed by the international community, after brutally suppressing mass civil protests against his government.
Since then, the government has arrested dissidents, persecuted dissidents, shut down NGOs, and confiscated journalists and media outlets in exile, through a legal apparatus that includes new censorship laws.
The Inter-American Press Association estimates that there are currently more than 170 political prisoners, including presidential candidate of the November 2021 election, Cristiana Chamorro, and Pedro Joaquín Chamorro, a board member of La Prensa newspaper and Violeta Barrios. de Chamorro Foundation were sentenced to eight and nine years in prison, respectively.
One of the worst attacks on the press occurred in August 2021. Closure of La Prensa and arrest of newspaper editorJuan Lorenzo Holmann Chamorro.
As with all behind-the-scenes cases against dissidents, Holmann was sentenced to nine years in prison for false charges and malfeasance.
To report on this and other atrocities by the Ortena government, a panel was held at the IAPA conference with family members of political prisoners.
Carlos Fernando Chamorro was one of them. The journalist was one of those who left Nicaragua in 2021.
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At the IAPA meeting, he said: “Nicaragua must win freedom through the release of political prisoners who represent the hope for democratic change”.
“My cousin Juan Lorenzo Holmann is the fourth member of my family who was convicted by Daniel Ortega of an act of despicable political revenge for trying to crush the right to free choice.”
Holmann’s daughter Renata condemned the inhumane conditions in which her father was held.
“He remains committed to his values and commitments to Nicaragua. Today, more than ever, my father sees the importance of defending freedom of expression.”
“We are extremely concerned about his physical and mental health. We reject the accusations because he is innocent,” she said in tears, amid the applause of the other speakers.
Journalist Cristopher Mendoza, nephew of another communicator Miguel Mendoza, who was arrested by the regime, denounced his uncle’s detention for “speaking his mind and making it public”. He was found guilty of false charges.”
He remembered Miguel Mendoza saying that being a journalist had been a blessing for him. “Journalism is a matter of personal satisfaction rather than economics.”
Manifesto demands support for media in Nicaragua
The statement titled “Nicaragua Statement” signed by 27 organizations defending freedom of the press at the IAPA event, proposes an action plan for the preservation and reconstruction of independent journalism in the country.
The document, among other things, proposes the return of professionals and media from exile, along with new sanctions on the Ortega government until political prisoners and journalists are freed by the international community.
Campaigns are also proposed to encourage donations to support independent Nicaraguan media inside and outside the country.
The United States and European Union governments also demand that interest in the problems in Nicaragua should not be lost in the midst of international conflict over the occupation of Ukraine.
Signatories include the World Association of News Publishers (WAN-IFRA), Reporters Without Borders (RSF), Argentine Journalist Assets Association (ADEPA), National Press Association (ANP, Bolivia), Brazilian Investigative Journalism Association (Abraji), National Association of Newspapers (ANJ). , Brazil), Brazilian Radio and Television Association (Abratel), Freedom of the Press Foundation (Flip, Colombia), and MX Media Alliance (Mexico).
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source: Noticias
