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…
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 detain journalist Miguel Mendoza for alleged treason
New York, June 23, 2021 — Nicaraguan authorities should immediately release journalist Miguel Mendoza, drop the criminal investigation into him, and halt the escalating campaign of harassment against the independent press, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. At about 9 p.m. on June 21, officers with the Nicaraguan National Police detained Mendoza and raided…