This complaint was filed by the executive director of the FLED, the exiled Nicaraguan communicator Guillermo Medrano, on the occasion of the Fourth Cycle of Evaluation of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) for Nicaragua, which is a mechanism of the Human Rights Council, and which is being held in Geneva.
Daniel Ortega’s regime has unleashed a fierce repression against opponents and dissidents in Nicaragua since April 2018, in which it includes journalists and communicators as victims, which has forced at least 275 of them to go into exile, denounced on Tuesday the NGO Foundation for Freedom of Expression and Democracy (FLED), based in Costa Rica.
This complaint was filed by the executive director of the FLED, the exiled Nicaraguan communicator Guillermo Medrano, on the occasion of the Fourth Cycle of Evaluation of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) for Nicaragua, which is a mechanism of the Human Rights Council, and which is being held in Geneva.
In his report, entitled “State of freedom of expression, the press and digital rights in Nicaragua,” Medrano argued that his country is “transviating one of its worst crises of human rights violations,” and that since April 2018, when a popular revolt broke out against the Sandinista government, the State, through its institutions, has unleashed a fierce repression in which it includes journalists and communicators as victims.
The State of Nicaragua has also imposed a legal framework on the weakening of the rule of law, and has established mechanisms for censorship, repression and judicialization against journalists, artists and the media in the physical and digital environment, Medrano said.
State has not complied with the recommendations
The communicator explained that in May 2019, during the interactive dialogue, the State of Nicaragua received 259 recommendations, of which 135 accepted, including 14 aimed at ensuring the protection and promotion of freedom of expression, but that none has been met to date.
According to the monitoring of cases registered by the FLED, from April 2018 to date there are at least 1,775 attacks against journalists and communicators: 1,386 natural persons and 389 legal persons or information spaces.
In addition, the Attorney General’s Office cited at least 59 journalists in alleged interviews that were truly interrogated with threats to apply the Cybercrites Act for the alleged dissemination of false news against the government, he said.
Medrano highlighted the crisis of “persecución,” and mentioned the disappearance of journalist and activist Fabiola Tercero since July 12, and the imprisonment of communicator Victor Tikay since April 2023.
At least 275 journalists have left Nicaragua
He also warned that at least 275 Nicaraguan journalists have had to go into exile for security reasons or because they have been banished since April 2018 by the Ortega government.
Between 2018 and 2023 at least 54 media outlets have been closed, including five that were raided and confiscated their properties, including the newspaper La Prensa, Confidential, 100 % News and the Trinchera de la Noticias, he said.
Medrano said that recommendations were made from the FLED to achieve the exercise of independent journalism in Nicaragua, including that the State must end the arbitrary use of administrative, legislative, judicial, financial and police mechanisms that prevent the exercise of freedom of expression and other fundamental rights in the country.
Also, take immediate steps to restore nationality to journalists, writers, activists, human rights defenders, political dissidents and other opponents who have been arbitrarily deprived of their nationality in retaliation for exercising their right to freedom of expression.
This article has been translated after first appearing in El Salvador