Organizations advocating freedom of the press have warned of increased repression and censorship in Nicaragua, after two employees of the newspaper La Prensa were arrested last week.
The men, whose identities were not disclosed at the request of their family members, are the driver of the vehicle, not the journalist. They were sentenced to 90 days of precautionary detention on Friday (8) as authorities investigated their involvement in a newspaper article that angered the Daniel Ortega government.
The report concerned the forcing of 18 nuns from the Charity Missionaries Association, founded by Mother Teresa of Calcutta, to leave the country in police custody and cross the Costa Rican border on foot.
Nicaragua tightens censorship against busy newspapers
Founded in 1926, La Prensa is the oldest newspaper in the country and the most targeted by the Ortega government. In August 2021, Broadcasting building raided by the police and its director Juan Lorenzo Holmann Chamorro was imprisoned.
In addition to him, two other members of the newspaper’s board, Cristiana and Pedro Joaquín Chamorro Barrios, were also arrested. Cristiana was a presidential candidate in the November 2021 election.
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The plight of deported nuns is the latest in Nicaragua following the crackdown on human rights defenders. Ortega has shut down more than 900 NGOs in the country since protests demanding his resignation in 2018.
On Sunday, the government ordered another 100 nonprofits to close.
Images of the nuns leaving Nicaragua on foot garnered great reaction on social media. The group has been operating in the country since 1988 and has established a home for needy girls, a home for the elderly, and a home for young children.
???????? | The moment the Missionary Sisters of Caridad leave Nicaragua for deportation by the Daniel Ortega regime. pic.twitter.com/awv8MgvXNZ
— World Alert (@AIertaMundiaI) 10 July 2022
Like other vehicles in the country, the newspaper La Prensa sent a news team of a reporter, a photographer, and a driver to accompany the nuns’ removal from the country.
But the news caused the entire team to be harassed by Nicaraguan authorities.
On Wednesday night (6), the driver who led the team to the scene and an unrelated driver were arrested.
La Prensa reported that the two were held in a maximum security prison without charges.
According to the newspaper, police officers also went to arrest the homes of alleged journalists and photographers, but they were not found.
(9) In an editorial published Saturday, La Prensa says authorities failed to inform that the nuns’ departure was “a security operation with limited or prohibited journalistic scope”, so it sent a team to report “as in any event”. Another event with journalistic value.”
“The Nicaraguan Political Constitution protects and guarantees freedom of information and the practice of professional journalism,” the newspaper editorial says.
“Likewise, it ensures the personal safety and rights of citizens, including not being detained without reason and prior court order.
Based on the constitutional rights outlined above and those enshrined in international human rights treaties to which the State of Nicaragua is a party, we demand an end to the harassment of La Prensa and other independent media.
And let the prisoners, drivers and administrators of this newspaper and all political prisoners unjustly imprisoned be released.”
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‘New wave of cruelty’, entity says
The Inter-American Press Association (SIP, its Spanish acronym) said in a statement that the arrest of La Prensa employees marked a “new wave of persecution” by the newspaper’s Nicaraguan government.
“We hold the Ortega regime accountable for what may happen to each and every one of La Prensa’s workers, victims of abuse, intolerance and disrespect for their fundamental rights,” said IAPA president Jorge Canahuati.
Carlos Jornet, chairman of the Association’s Freedom of the Press Committee, added:
“Given the new attack on La Prensa, we reiterate our urgent call to restore freedoms in Nicaragua, where the regime is acting without facing the consequences of its repressive actions.”
SIP’s Carlos Jornet said: “The regime acts with full discretion without facing the consequences of its repressive actions”. There is an urgent call for freedoms to be restored in Nicaragua. @laprensa #freedomfrompress #libertaddeepresión https://t.co/S3jpiO9cfX
— SIP • IAPA (@sip_oficial) 8 July 2022
Journalists out of Nicaragua with the routine of censorship are in fear. Speaking anonymously to the Voice of America network, someone said he felt insecure even at home:
“The anguish we feel at the thought that the next inmate on the list might be me or my colleague, and the harm or repercussions this arrest could have had on the family, is endless.
In Nicaragua, you cannot do journalism other than the narrative of the ruling party.”
He also stated that this persecution tries to send a clear message:
“The government will no longer tolerate the media reporting what is really going on in the country.”
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source: Noticias
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