Nicaraguan police detain journalist William Aragón overnight on false news charge
New York, May 5, 2023—Nicaraguan authorities should drop all criminal charges against journalist William Aragón, let him work free from harassment, and cease detaining journalists for their work, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday. At about 6 p.m. on Wednesday, May 3, police arrested Aragón at his home in the city of Estelí and…
Journalist Victor Ticay arrested over coverage of Easter ceremony in Nicaragua
Guatemala City, April 7, 2023—Nicaraguan authorities should immediately release journalist Victor Ticay and cease detaining members of the press for their work, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday. On the morning of Thursday, April 6, police in the southwestern town of Nandaime arrested Ticay, a reporter for the privately owned TV broadcaster Canal 10,…
La Prensa’s Juan Lorenzo Holmann: ‘I turned around and said goodbye to Nicaragua’
Juan Lorenzo Holmann Chamorro was on the verge of sleep in his Nicaraguan jail cell when he was issued civilian clothes, taken to the airport, and told to sign a handwritten document agreeing to be deported to the United States. Holmann, the publisher of La Prensa, Nicaragua’s oldest newspaper, had been incarcerated since August 2021….
Nicaragua’s Miguel Mendoza on his bittersweet deportation from his ‘kidnapped’ country
Miguel Ángel Mendoza Urbina, a veteran sports journalist with over 30 years of experience, made a life-changing decision on April 19, 2018, when anti-government protests erupted in Nicaragua. He realized he could not just focus on sports while his country was in turmoil. Mendoza used his Twitter and Facebook accounts, with a combined following of…
CPJ: Nicaragua political prisoner release brings ‘sense of relief’
Los Angeles, February 9, 2023 — In response to news reports that Nicaraguan authorities freed and deported 222 political prisoners to the United States on Thursday, including at least one journalist, the Committee to Protect Journalists issued the following statement: “The deportation of political prisoners from Nicaragua, including at least one journalist, brings a sense…
Four staff members of Nicaragua’s La Prensa charged with conspiracy, two in detention
Guatemala City, October 14, 2022 — Nicaraguan authorities should immediately drop all criminal charges against staff members of the independent newspaper La Prensa, release two drivers held in custody, and cease harassing the outlet, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday. On September 29, the Nicaraguan prosecutor’s office charged four La Prensa staff members with “conspiracy…
Nicaraguan government suspends at least 17 local radio and TV stations
In August 2022, Nicaragua’s telecommunications regulator ordered the suspension of at least 17 media outlets, including radio stations and local television channels, according to a list shared with CPJ by the journalists’ union Periodistas y Comunicadores de Nicaragua (PCIN). The list of suspended news outlets that PCIN shared with CPJ includes TV stations Canal San…
Nicaraguan police raid La Prensa journalists’ homes, detain 2 media workers
Guatemala City, July 14, 2022 — Nicaraguan authorities should immediately release all staff members of La Prensa held in custody, refrain from filing criminal charges against the outlet’s staff, and cease harassing the outlet, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday. On July 6, police in Managua, the capital, detained two drivers working for the…
Nicaraguan police raid, close independent news outlet Trinchera de la Noticia
Around 3 p.m. on June 10, 2022, the Nicaraguan interior ministry summoned María Alicia Talavera, the director of independent news outlet Trinchera de la Noticia, to a meeting to inform her that the Nicaraguan judiciary had canceled the outlet’s legal status and would be seizing all assets, according to a report by Spanish news agency…
Nicaraguan publisher Juan Lorenzo Holmann convicted on money laundering charges
New York, March 24, 2022 – Nicaraguan authorities should release publisher Juan Lorenzo Holmann Chamorro from prison immediately, and should ensure that members of the press do not face criminal penalties for their work, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday. On Wednesday, March 23, at the end of a three-day closed-door trial, a judge…