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…
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…
A press freedom crisis unfolds in Latin America
As the number of journalists imprisoned globally for their work climbs to record highs, cases of those behind bars in Latin America remained relatively low. A total of six – three in Cuba, two in Nicaragua and one in Brazil – were in custody for their work as of December 1, according to the Committee…
Eight press freedom threats to watch ahead of Nicaragua’s presidential elections
On November 7, Nicaraguans are set to go to the polls to vote for president, the culmination of a campaign that has included the detention of opposition candidates, the banning of civil society organizations, and continued suppression of the country’s independent press. Nicaragua’s press freedom environment sharply deteriorated in 2018, when journalists covering protests against…
CPJ and Foreign Press Association host press briefing on Nicaragua
New York, Oct 25, 2021–Ahead of the November 7 Nicaraguan general election, which is taking place amid increasingly dire circumstances for press freedom, the Committee to Protect Journalists will host a press briefing with the Foreign Press Association (FPA) on threats to journalists in the country. The need for timely and reliable information is heightened…
Nicaraguan police raid La Prensa offices, detain publisher Juan Lorenzo Holmann
Guatemala City, August 16, 2021 – Nicaraguan authorities must stop harassing the La Prensa newspaper, allow its staff to enter their offices and report freely, and unconditionally release publisher Juan Lorenzo Holmann, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. At about 11 a.m. on August 13, riot police officers raided the independent newspaper’s office in…