Journalists around the world denounce attacks on media in Nicaragua

Journalists and publishers around the world signed an open letter this weekend in which They demand urgent measures to guarantee freedom of expression in Nicaragua, after the government of Daniel Ortega and (his wife and vice-president) Rosario Murillo generated in just six months the murder of a journalist, dozens of forced exiles, torture and convictions of press workers, media occupation and censorship. It is signed by eminent authors such as Sergio Ramírez and Martín Caparrós and intellectuals such as Jon Lee Anderson and Chilean Mónica González, among other award-winning journalists.

“We openly express our concern and indignation at the process of dispossession of two basic rights, including Nicaraguan citizens are victims:freedom of expression and timely access to truthful and independent information, ”they said.

The public complaint is supported by international references, such as Rose Valley Alves, director of the Knight Center for Journalism of the Americas; Jon Lee Anderson, reporter for The New Yorker; Maria teresa ronderos, director of the Latin American Center for Journalistic Investigation (CLIP); Monica Gonzalez, founder of CYPRUS; German Rey, researcher in communication, society and culture; Jean-Francois Fogel, Director of the master’s degree in media management at Sciences Po Paris and Chairman of the Board of Governors; Hector Feliciano, Writer and journalist; Natalia Viana, Director of the Brazilian public agency; Jaime Abello Banfi, director of the Gabo Foundation, among others. For Argentina, the Secretary General of Redacción de Bugle, Ricardo kirschbaum; the editorial writer Joaquin Morales Solá; the journalists Daniel Santoro Yes Miguel Wiñazki, and chroniclers and writers Warrior Leila Yes Martín Caparrós.

“Since the start of civic demonstrations in April 2018, the government in the hands of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo has systematically cracked down on dissenting voices, in particular against the media which are not under their control, until the confiscation of the installations where operated independent media ”, they recall in the open letter and write a scary list in which the murder of journalist Ángel Gahona took place on April 21, 2018; the paramilitary assault, which destroyed Radio Darío’s facilities, on April 20, 2018; physical assault, theft of equipment, threats, espionage and intimidation against journalists; the forced exile of more than 70 press workers; the customs blockade against the newspaper Press and other means for 500 days, to prevent them from accessing paper and supplies; the assault, theft and police occupation of the offices of Confidencial and 100% Noticias in December 2018; various cases of censorship and criminalization of the practice of journalism, as well as the indictment and imprisonment of two journalists, who were tortured between December 2018 and June 2019.

“I could see the weight he had Confidential, the medium directed by Carlos Fernando Chamorro. Of course, the regime got to see it too and, as part of its campaign against the independent press, sent its thugs to occupy it.

Martín Caparrós. Argentine writer and journalist.

“I was in Nicaragua during the 2018 protests, which the Ortega-Murillo couple repressed with dozens of deaths – he recalls Martin Caparrós this afternoon for Bugle-. There I could see the weight I had Confidential, the medium directed by Carlos Fernando Chamorro. Of course, the regime could see it too and, as part of his campaign against the independent press, he sent his thugs to occupy it. This week, the regime confiscated its offices, as well as those of 100% News. These cases are only part of the pressure that Ortega exerts against any democratic initiative ”.

Precisely Carlos Fernando Chamorro told about his ordeal a few days ago: “At 11:15 pm, Thursday, December 13 of last year, the National Police stormed the writing of Confidencial and Esta Semana, the media that I have managed for more than twenty years. Without presenting a court order or warrant from any authority, the armed officers detained the private security officers, violently kicked down doors, and looted our newsroom for more than four hours. When I managed to enter the office early the next morning, I found that all computers, television editing and filming equipment, as well as our corporate, accounting, and private documents had been stolen.. A few hours later, on the night of Friday the 14th, the police returned to occupy our newsroom. And to this day, the manu militari keeps him taken, carrying out a de facto confiscation, ”he said in an article published on the New York Times.

After 11 months of exile, he returned to his country and from there testified Bugle on the media situation in Nicaragua and in its own state at present: “I returned from exile in Costa Rica at the end of 2019, even if there was no guarantee of safety and that our newsroom was still occupied by the police. But I came back to exercise my right because the only way to regain freedom under a dictatorship is to exercise our rights, in this case as a journalist ”, he assured.

Chamorro explained that Nicaragua lives under an authoritarian regime “which turned into a bloody dictatorship in 2018, when it was challenged by a massive civic protest. which demanded free elections and the resignation of President Ortega and his wife, Rosario Murillo. The regime responded with violence, massacred more than 300 people (today all these crimes are with impunity) and, in September 2018, imposed a police state with the expiration of all constitutional rights.

Carlos Fernando Chamorro is one of the most uncomfortable voices for President Daniel Ortega, who ruled this country for 14 years, when he took office on January 10, 2007. In addition to running the Confidencia portal, in May 2009 he won the Latin America Freedom of Expression Award, awarded by Casa América Cataluña (Spain) and in October 2010, she received the Maria Moors Cabot Prize, awarded by the Columbia University School of Journalism in New York. “The resistance of the independent press in Nicaragua cannot be explained without the support of our public and the confidence that the population has placed in the credibility of the independent press, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, for the empowerment of citizens to disseminate information via social networks ”.

“The resistance of the independent press in Nicaragua cannot be explained without the support of our public.”

Carlos Fernando Chamorro. Nicaraguan journalist.

In this sense, Chamorro underlined in dialogue with Bugle by phone that “journalists and citizens unite in an effort to inform and defeat official censorshipWhereas in Nicaragua there is no rule of law and there is absolutely no legal protection for the exercise of journalism ”.

Rose Valley Alves is director of the Knight Center for Journalism of the Americas and explained to Bugle the critical situation in Nicaragua: “I joined the initiative because I agree with the urgency of calling the attention of the international community to abuses against journalists and the media committed by the Ortega regime and his wife and vice-president Rosario Murillo. The scale came this week from this week’s illegal confiscation of properties from independent media Confidential, This week Yes Tonight, by Carlos Fernando Chamorro, and 100% News, whose leaders they were jailed for long months just for doing their job independently», Details Alves.

In addition, the Brazilian journalist, who is a member of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and chairs the Unesco Chair of Communication, recalled that this Monday, “when Journalists’ Day is celebrated in Nicaragua, We want to send a strong message of solidarity to journalists and the Nicaraguan people. A vehement demonstration against the abuses of the Ortega-Murillo dictatorship. And a call to the international community to take measures that help restore democracy and respect for human rights in Nicaragua. Hopefully more journalists will sign the open letter ”.