The purpose of this report is to share an overview of the current human rights situation in Nicaragua, as it relates to digital technologies. We will focus on the events that have taken place since 2018, a year in which huge public protests and demonstrations took place, followed in turn by a strong governmental reaction.

As we will explore below, in the face of the complex political context in the country, in which the executive branch concentrates the power and control over state institutions and the population[1], digital environments have represented a space for disputes. On the one hand, the Internet has been a privileged vehicle for human rights defenders and journalists, both inside and outside Nicaragua, to disseminate information and denounce abuses, even to the international community. On the other hand, these people have been targets of censorship, repression and harassment by governmental entities, legitimized by abusive regulations.

The analysis of the implications of the context of human rights violations in the digital sphere is crucial to understand the closing process of the Nicaraguan civic space in recent years, so we hope that this report will serve as an input to international human rights organizations and authorities.

The text is based on the review of secondary sources of information, as well as some interviews with activists close to the local context. It is divided into three sections. In the first one, we will explore the human rights situation in Nicaragua, identifying the main regulatory frameworks that have criminalized the conduct of human rights defenders, journalists and political opposition to the government. In the second section, we will present the main tendencies regarding the violation of rights and their link with digital technologies. Finally, we will analyze the context faced by independent media.

Regulatory framework applicable to the digital environment

After the series of major social protests occurred in Nicaragua in 2018 and the violent reaction of the Government, the rates of human rights violations have increased in the country[2].  In those mobilizations, 76 people were reported killed and 868 injured, according to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), in addition to a series of arbitrary detentions[3]. State repression was combined with measures to legitimize such actions. In a period of five years, a legislative framework has been consolidated giving the Government powers to censor, repress and condemn citizens, journalists, the media, human rights defenders and civil society organizations.

The civic space has been significantly stifled due to legislations that impose administrative measures on civil society organizations, operating as barriers to limit the work and legal permanence of such institutions in the country. This has resulted in the cancellation of the legal status of 2,634 organizations between 2018 and 2022, according to data from the Office of the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression (SRFOE) of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), which states that “95% of them would have been cancelled in 2022” (SRFOE, 2023, p.299).

Read the full report

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On 1 June 2023, freedom of expression organisations condemned the arrest of Nicaraguan journalist Víctor Ticay, in retaliation for reporting on one of his social media accounts about a Catholic celebration on 5 April 2023. Daniel Ortega’s regime banned religious expression in public spaces and, as seen in the case of the journalist, the coverage of such events was the justification for the prosecution of independent journalists. 

On 19 May 2023, the Nicaraguan National Prosecutor’s Office charged Víctor Ticay with the alleged crimes of treason and cybercrime. According to information that was available, he was held incommunicado and in legal limbo for more than 40 days. Ticay is a contributor to Canal 10 and director of the website “La Portada” where he has documented violations of freedom of expression and press freedom in Nicaragua. 

Despite public condemnation of his detention by international human rights bodies and organisations, as well as a campaign calling for his release by fellow journalists, on 16 August it was announced that the journalist was sentenced to 8 years in prison – 5 years for the alleged crime of treason and 3 more years for cybercrime. 

We are concerned that Víctor Ticay may be at risk of losing his citizenship due to constitutional reforms, given the context of the 222 citizens who have been banished, and as part of a strategy by the authorities to force journalists, human rights defenders, and activists, among others, into exile. 

In addition to Ticay, two other journalists have been prosecuted in recent months for allegedly spreading false news. On 3 May, Hazel Zamora, director of Doce Noticias and correspondent for Canal 10, and William Aragón (former correspondent for La Prensa) were arrested and granted conditional release. In addition, at the beginning of July, Aragón was denied medical attention at the public Health Centre and at the Juan Antonio Brenes Palacios hospital in Somoto despite his health condition. 

The current conditions have forced the country’s journalists and media to take the drastic measure of going into exile, as a result of the government’s persecution, as a way of safeguarding their physical, professional and emotional integrity. On 3 August, at least eight more journalists were reported to have been forcibly displaced, including Marcos Medina, a journalist with Radio Corporación and Fuentes Confiables, who, along with his family, was banned from entering Nicaragua on 24 July after a trip to the United States. 

On 31 March 2023, a report by the UN Group of Experts detailed the seriousness of the attack on human rights in Nicaragua as “a result of the deliberate dismantling of democratic institutions and the destruction of civic space”. The same Group of Experts stated the importance of the international community continuing to monitor the situation in the country. Furthermore, on 18 April, on the anniversary of the repression against government opponents, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights called for the re-establishment of democracy through a process that guarantees access to justice. In order to lay the foundations of democracy, the guarantee of freedom of expression is fundamental. 

The undersigned organisations demand the immediate release of the journalist Víctor Ticay and the suspension of the recent constitutional reforms linked to the crime of “treason”, as they are a vehicle that seeks to facilitate the violation of the human rights of critics, opponents or those perceived as such. We also reiterate our demand to the Nicaraguan authorities to put an end to the wave of repression against critical voices in Nicaragua. 

We call on the international community to follow, monitor and support the victims of the authoritarian regime in Nicaragua. 

The undersigned organisations reiterate our commitment to defending human rights and fundamental freedoms in Nicaragua. We continue to work on monitoring, documenting and denouncing attacks on freedom of expression, and advocating before the Inter-American System and the Universal System for the protection of Human Rights, with the aim of guaranteeing justice, reparation and non-repetition for the victims. 

Latin America, 17 August 2023 

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Nicaraguan authorities should drop their criminal investigation into journalist Victor Ticay and release him immediately, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Monday.On May 19, prosecutors accused Ticay, a correspondent for the Nicaraguan TV station Canal 10, of treason and cybercrime, according to multiple news reports. He has been held at a police station in Managua, the capital, since he was arrested while covering an Easter celebration on April 6.

“Nicaraguan authorities never should have detained journalist Victor Ticay in the first place. By accusing him of crimes that carry harsh prison sentences, authorities are showing how little regard they have for press freedom,” said CPJ Program Director Carlos Martinez de la Serna, in New York. “The case against Ticay should be dropped immediately and Nicaraguan law enforcement must stop targeting journalists for their work.”

Those news reports said that one suspect arrested at the same time and facing the same accusations as Ticay was expected in court on June 7. CPJ could not immediately determine if Ticay is also due in court on that date.

If charged and convicted of treason, Ticay could face up to six years in prison. Convictions for cybercrime carry up to 10 years.

CPJ repeatedly called the Nicaraguan national prosecutor’s office for comment, but no one answered.

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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, according to multiple news reports. His detention stemmed from the journalist’s April 5 reporting on Facebook about a Catholic Easter celebration. The government of President Daniel Ortega has banned public expressions of religion.

“The Nicaraguan government has once again shown little respect for the right to freedom of expression amid an absurd climate of total censorship, which extends even to religious activities,” said CPJ Program Director Carlos Martínez de la Serna, in New York. “Authorities must release journalist Victor Ticay at once and cease their relentless campaign to intimidate and threaten the press into silence or exile.”

Press Freedom Alerts Nicaragua, a social media-based outlet that documents attacks on the media, reported that Ticay posted a video of the Easter celebration on the Facebook news page La Portada, which he runs, but it was taken down following his arrest. An executive at Canal 10 confirmed the journalist’s detention, those news reports said.

CPJ emailed the Nicaraguan national police but did not immediately receive a response.

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The United Nations Human Rights Council should renew the mandate of the Group of Human Rights Experts on Nicaragua and the reporting mandate on Nicaragua of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) for two years, Human Rights Watch said today.

The Group of Experts was established by the UN Human Rights Council in March 2022 with a one-year mandate to investigate abuses committed since 2018. On March 6, 2023, it presented to the Council a compelling report finding reasonable grounds to conclude that Nicaraguan authorities have committed “widespread and systematic” human rights violations, including murder, imprisonment, torture, sexual violence, forced deportation, and persecution on political grounds that amount to crimes against humanity.

“By stripping 317 Nicaraguans of their nationality, the Nicaraguan government has left no doubt that it is one of the most ruthless dictatorships in the region,” said Tamara Taraciuk Broner, acting Americas director at Human Rights Watch. “Extending the Group of Human Rights Experts on Nicaragua’s mandate for two years would send a strong message to the Ortega government that the international community is paying attention and will not give those clinging to power a blank check to continue committing abuses.”

On February 9, the government released 222 political prisoners and expelled them to the United States, labeling them as “traitors,” stripping them of their nationality, and confiscating their assets.

Following their release, the government stripped the nationality of 95 other government critics, including journalists, human rights defenders, writers, and political leaders, and the Roman Catholic Bishop Rolando Álvarez, who refused to leave the country and was recently sentenced to over 20 years in prison under a range of charges such as “conspiracy to undermine national integrity.” Bishop Álvarez, who had been under house arrest, was sent to a maximum-security prison and has remained in incommunicado detention.

The recent legislative changes allowing for stripping people of their citizenship on arbitrary grounds run contrary to Nicaragua’s international obligations, which forbid deprivation of nationality that results in statelessness as a response to racial, ethnic, religious, or political grounds. With these measures, Nicaragua, a party to both the 1954 Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons, and the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, violates its obligation to ensure the enjoyment of the right to nationality and to take measures to prevent and eradicate statelessness.

Bishop Álvarez and 36 other government critics remain imprisoned, according to local organizations. Many have been charged with undermining national integrity and propagating false news in criminal proceedings that were based on bogus charges and violated basic due process rights.

The resolution that established the Group of Experts also renewed and strengthened OHCHR’s reporting mandate on Nicaragua. A resolution led by Costa Rica, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, and Peru to renew both mandates is expected to be offered during the 52nd session of the Human Rights Council in March.

Renewing the mandate would allow experts to continue gathering evidence of serious, ongoing human rights violations, report on current dynamics in the country, and provide recommendations for necessary action, Human Rights Watch said.

During 2022, the government of President Daniel Ortega continued to arbitrarily detain and prosecute people perceived as government critics, including journalists, opposition leaders, human rights defenders, members of the Catholic Church, leaders of community, business, and student groups, and detainees’ family members.

Some detainees have been subjected to inhumane conditions, including being held incommunicado for weeks or months, with some in prolonged solitary confinement. Former detainees and those allowed to receive family visits have reported abusive conditions, including repeated interrogations, inadequate medical attention, and insufficient food, and have said they are often not allowed to read in prison, including the Bible, or to write.

The government has also dramatically restricted civic space. Since early 2022, authorities have canceled the legal status of over 3,200 nongovernmental organizations, 47 percent of the nonprofit organizations that existed in Nicaragua prior to April 2018. Among the groups stripped of their legal registration are dozens of humanitarian organizations, which played a critically important role in ensuring access to health services, water, and food for low-income, mostly rural communities. The authorities have also canceled the legal status of 18 universities.

The Ortega government has repeatedly refused to cooperate with international human rights bodies, it has not implemented the OHCHR’s recommendations, and has failed to engage with the Group of Experts, OHCHR, and several UN human rights treaty bodies. No international human rights monitor has been allowed to visit the country since the government expelled staff members of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the OHCHR in late 2018.

It has expelled the Apostolic Nuncio to Nicaragua, who was seeking the release of political prisoners, the representative of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), and the European Union (EU) envoy to Nicaragua days after the EU mission to the UN in Geneva called for the restoration of democracy in the country.

The judiciary does not operate independently in Nicaragua, and impunity for human rights violations is the norm. No police officer is known to be under investigation for the abuses committed during the government’s brutal 2018 crackdown against protesters, which left over 300 people dead and 2,000 injured and resulted in hundreds of arbitrary arrests.

“International pressure and accountability remain fundamental for Nicaragua’s transition back to democracy and the Group of Experts have a key role to play toward achieving that goal,” Taraciuk Broner said.

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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 144,000, to share news and became a go-to source of information.

Mendoza’s work led to his arrest on June 21, 2021, as part of a broader crackdown on opposition figures and independent media. Charged with conspiracy and spreading false news, he was sentenced to nine years in prison. Less than two years later, on February 9, 2023, Mendoza was among 222 political prisoners unexpectedly released by Nicaraguan authorities and deported to the United States. All of the group, which included La Prensa publisher Juan Lorenzo Holmann Chamorro and five other journalists and media workers who asked not to be named to protect the safety of their families, were stripped of their Nicaraguan citizenship.

Mendoza and Holmann spoke to CPJ’s Dánae Vílchez shortly after arriving in the U.S. about their prison experiences and continued commitment to press freedom in Nicaragua. Mendoza described his release as bittersweet given that his country remained “kidnapped” while he had been liberated. [Read the full interview with Holmann here.]

The interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Could you talk about your first impressions after arriving in the United States? How do you feel?

I feel extraordinarily good. I spent 598 days in the Nicaraguan prison known as El Chipote. To be here, even though we are no longer Nicaraguan according to the country’s authorities, feels great.

But the truth is that there are things so elementary that one is used to feeling that they were erased. Things as basic as seeing yourself in the mirror, combing your hair, and wearing shoes. I wore shoes [only] four times in almost 600 days.

I think the worst thing that was happening to us there is isolation from our family. [After my arrest it was] 72 days before I could see Margine, my partner. Between August and November 2022, it was 90 days without seeing the family. That is the hardest thing because we did not know what was happening with them, with our people.

I consider myself kidnapped. I do not say that I am a convict or a prisoner or a detainee. I was kidnapped because I was not granted the basic [protections of] the Nicaraguan Criminal Code.

Did you have any idea in jail that something like this release was going to happen?

Yes, we suspected that something was being planned when we suddenly had more regular family visits. They brought my daughter to me on December 7 after I’d been demanding to see her [for] a year and a half. Then they gave us a visit [allowing us to wear] civilian clothes, shoes, and short hair, and they gave us a banquet there — well, food, special food. The visits before were very rigid. Women who arrived, sisters, mothers, or wives, were outrageously forced to undress [for searches], [but] suddenly, we had more relaxed visits. We knew from then on that something was happening.

Can you tell us what happened when they took you to the plane?

When we left the prison that night, they put us in a covered bus so we couldn’t see the streets of Managua. We signed a document authorizing our trip to the United States, which was the moment we [realized we were going there]. I asked them if they had already informed my family because they took us out with nothing, just a pair of pants, a shirt, and a pair of shoes. The authorities immediately told us that we were coming to Washington.

It was a celebration. When the plane took off, we sang the Nicaraguan national anthem, sang some [Nicaraguan] songs, and prayers of the priests. It was a celebration, but also there [was] regret that almost 40 hostages remained, among them the brave Bishop Rolando Álvarez, [sentenced to 26 years in prison on February 10 after refusing to board the flight to the U.S.]. For me, it was bittersweet because I feel that we achieved our liberation, but the country was kidnapped.

What happened on the day of your arrest?

That day there was a person who warned me through a private message. He told me: they are after you and Carlos Fernando Chamorro, who is another journalist. I did not believe that message. It was around 17:00 [5 p.m.] in the afternoon on June 21, [2021]. I didn’t get a chance to run because they went after Carlos and didn’t find him, they went immediately after me. I went to a friend’s house. I arrived, and after five minutes, the street was surrounded by police cars, motorcycles, paramilitaries, and a policeman.

A policeman told me, ‘Miguel, come out.’ I came out, and they handcuffed me [and] put me in a patrol car. I only remember the comment made by the driver, who was one of the witnesses at my trial. He said that I was going to jail like Miguel Mora [a former journalist and CPJ International Press Freedom Award winner sentenced to 13 years in prison] for being ungrateful to the commander [Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega]. I obviously did not say anything to him, I just thought I have nothing to thank Daniel Ortega for. I am a journalist. A journalist does not thank anyone, a journalist does his job, and that’s it. They transferred me to jail as if I was a dangerous drug trafficker.

How does a sports journalist become a political journalist and commentator and get accused of conspiracy?

I had been working in sports journalism for 30 years, but I always added a little bit of “political sauce” to my reporting. When the protests of 2018 broke out, I remember opening my Facebook page. I realized followers were telling me, ‘You are talking about sports while so many people have been killed, most of them young college students.’

That’s when I became convinced that it was shameful to keep talking about sports when the country was bleeding. That was my before and after. I started posting the things that were happening.

Maybe I had a little bit of an advantage because I worked in what at the time was the most important television channel in Nicaragua, and I think people saw in me a known face they trusted [for] news and videos. I was the director of a group where many correspondents were scattered around the country.

The government’s incredible frustration is that independent journalists with just a phone and internet — I am not talking about my case — but all independent journalism, defeats them in audience [size].

Why does Ortega want to silence you?

Precisely because that is what dictators are like. They accused me of undermining the homeland. In other words, they accused me of wanting to divide the territory of Nicaragua into two or four parts, and they accused me of belonging to an organized crime gang. My lawyer asked what the gang was, and I realized that the gang was made up of [U.S.] Congresswoman María Elvira Salazar, the former [U.S.] Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and the [former] U.N. human rights official and Chilean president [Michelle] Bachelet. I belonged to that gang because I retweeted them.

Continue reading excerpts from the interview on CPJ’s site

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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. Arrested during a widespread crackdown on the country’s independent media and accused of money laundering, he was serving a nine-year sentence in the country’s notorious El Chipote prison at the time he boarded the flight that would take him to Washington, D.C.

Along with Miguel Mendoza Urbina and five other journalists and media workers who asked to remain anonymous for security reasons, Holmann was among the 222 political prisoners unexpectedly released and deported by Nicaraguan authorities on February 9. He and Mendoza spoke to CPJ’s Dánae Vílchez about their experience in prison, their commitment to freedom of expression, and their mixed feelings about being forced to leave their country.

“I don’t feel totally free,” said Holmann. “Because free would be if I could be in Nicaragua, that’s the real freedom.” [Read Vílchez’s interview with Mendoza here.]

Excerpts from the interview, which has been edited for length and clarity:

How do you feel after your first days of freedom?

Many mixed feelings may sound like a cliché, but I am really missing part of my family. My wife is still in Nicaragua. Here I have my daughters, who are studying in the United States. So I had the feeling of coming to see my daughters, but that I am truly leaving my heart and my wife in Nicaragua.

What was the last day in jail like? Did you have any idea that something like this would happen?

The last day in jail went like all the other days, with the same routine of getting up, praying, doing a little exercise, eating what they gave us, and eating a little bit of what they had been letting in. They call it parcels. The wardens definitely knew absolutely nothing about what was going on or what was going to happen.

I was already falling asleep when a guard arrived. He called one of my cellmates and told him to take off his uniform and put on these civilian clothes, and we looked at my other cellmate and [said] “Oh, what’s going on?” After a few minutes, I asked [the guard], “What happens to me?” “Your clothes are coming,” he said, and they put us in a cell in groups of maybe 12 people. There we met a lot of “brothers of pain” [other prisoners] we had not seen [before] because we did not have access to communication between us. We were in that cell for several hours.

What happened in Nicaragua before getting on the plane for the United States?

At some point, a high-ranking officer arrived and said buses were going to each of the cells, “but please don’t ask me where they are going, because even I don’t know where they are going.”

We went out with [our hands] in plastic straps in front of us, not behind us, and they lined us up. I was the first in line on the bus, and I could see through the windshield of the bus because the side windows were covered with a curtain. Two options came to my mind. One was that we were going to the courthouse to hear a change [in our] sentences, and the other was that we would be transferred to a different prison. We took a route that looked like we were going to the courthouse. As I was passing in front of the La Prensa offices, I felt inspiration. And I said to myself, I think they are taking us to the airport.

We got to the airport, the bus stopped, and an officer got on the bus and told us we were being deported. Deported to the United States of America. And did we have any objections?

[I was told] to sign a handwritten document [that I] agreed to be deported to the United States of America under the conditions of the current law. I asked, “What are the conditions of the current law?” He told me, “Sign or I take you off the bus.” That is coercion, [but] I signed.

When I was walking towards the people from the [U.S.] State department, [one of them] said, “Welcome, Juan Lorenzo, we were waiting for you.” I was astonished because he [knew] my name. The first thing I asked him [was whether] this is for real, and [what about] my wife. “Don’t worry, we will see about that later,” I was told. “They [your daughters] are waiting for you.” “Thank you very much,” I said and went in.

They had a plastic container with a bunch of Nicaraguan passports. “What is your name?” [they asked.] “Juan Lorenzo.” And then the person said “Welcome,” and he took out my passport, saying, “This is you? Well, come on in.” They took my vitals, and another officer said, “You can come up.” I said, “Well, stairway to liberty,” and he said, “Yes, that’s me.” Still, before I got on the plane, I turned around and said goodbye to Nicaragua because I don’t know when I will be able to return.

The Nicaraguan government says that they took away your nationality

No one can take away my Nicaraguan nationality. I am going to die, and I am going to continue being Nicaraguan.

I feel very grateful to these people [in the U.S.] who have been so generous, first in accepting us 222 exiles, accepting and giving us warmth. To embrace us and make us feel loved.

Continue reading excerpts from the interview on CPJ’s site

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Greenspon: It is alarming that the regime now has the gall to use the media’s assets for propaganda purposes

The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) expressed concern over the new improper, illegal, and unconstitutional use of the presses and facilities stolen from the newspaper La Prensa by the Daniel Ortega regime of Nicaragua. The organization warned that the government plans to use the newspaper’s presses and facilities to open an official media outlet to publish government propaganda.

La Prensa has been published digitally outside of Nicaragua since the government seized its facilities on August 13, 2021. The government is now hiring personnel who worked for the company, because of their specialized knowledge of the newspaper’s presses and other production equipment and commercial printing press.

IAPA President Michael Greenspon said: “It is alarming that, in addition to having confiscated and stripped the assets of a private company, the regime now has the gall to use the media’s assets for propaganda purposes.” Greenspon, global director of Licensing and Print Innovation of The New York Times, United States, said: “We are no longer surprised by this regime that imprisons journalists, forces them into exile, and has confiscated property and real estate for its benefit.”

The chairman of the IAPA’s Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information, Carlos Jornet, said that “a regime like Ortega’s is not willing to create a public media so that citizens can receive impartial and transparent information about the government’s actions.” Jornet, the editor of La Voz del Interior of Argentina, added: “This is a new attempt to use the propaganda machine and lies to continue creating its narrative to deceive the people.”

The IAPA continues with its campaign to release Juan Lorenzo Holmann, general manager of La Prensa, and journalists Miguel Mora and Miguel Mendoza, sentenced to 13 and nine years in prison. It also demands that the government annul the sentences of Cristiana Chamorro and Pedro Joaquín Chamorro, members of the board of La Prensa, and journalist Jaime Arellano, sentenced to eight, nine, and 13 years, respectively.”

IAPA continues to demand from the government the return of the facilities of La Prensa and of Confidencial and 100% Noticias, the latter two media confiscated in 2018.

Since its founding, La Prensa has suffered closures, the imprisonment of directors and journalists, bombing and burning of its facilities, censorship, customs blockade of its supplies, and the assassination of its director, Pedro Joaquín Chamorro Cardenal, on January 10, 1978.

Article 14 of the Nicaraguan Constitution prohibits property and real estate confiscation. The commercial value of the property seized from La Prensa is estimated at around US$20 million. In its building, the regime installed the José Coronel Urtecho Cultural and Polytechnic Center, run by the National Technological Institute. In addition, the headquarters of Confidencial and 100% Noticias were converted into a maternity center and a care center for addicts, respectively.

The IAPA Chapultepec Index for August 2021 to August 2022 shows Nicaragua in last place of the 22 countries in the Americas analyzed for its performance in freedom of expression and press freedom.

The Chapultepec Index is an annual barometer that measures institutional actions affecting press freedom and freedom of expression in the Americas. The measurement is based on the principles of the IAPA’s Chapultepec and Salta Declarations.

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The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) condemned the blocking in Nicaragua of the cable signal of the news channel CNN en Español. The organization said the measure was “another grotesque example of censorship and persecution” of international media, after eliminating “independent Nicaraguan journalism.”

Nicaragua canceled the CNN en Español signal on September 21. However, CNN announced that it would continue the service through its portal and Youtube channel and that it had received no response after contacting the international private cable operators.

IAPA President Jorge Canahuati said, “We are facing another grotesque example of censorship and persecution of independent journalism in Nicaragua.” Canahuati, CEO of Grupo Opsa of Honduras, added, “the regime continues with its process of isolation, this time by attacking international media after it eliminated independent Nicaraguan journalism.”

At the next assembly in Madrid, October 27-30, the IAPA will address the role played by private telecommunications companies, given that authoritarian governments force them to block signals and web pages of national and international media.

The chairman of the Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information, Carlos Jornet, stated it was “evident that the regime is scrutinizing and continues to [carry out] a siege on the [few] communication spaces that remain and those that manage to enter the country.” Jornet, the editor of La Voz del Interior of Argentina, added, “This is a serious violation of the fundamental rights to freedom of expression and the press.”

The attack against the international network comes on the heels of other incidents of aggression against the press in the country. Among those are the cancellation of 54 media outlets since 2017, including radio stations, channels, print and digital; the confiscation and theft of La Prensa, Confidencial, and 100% Noticias; the forced exile of 140 journalists; and the sentences against journalists Miguel Mora, Miguel Mendoza, and Jaime Arellano, and the directors of La Prensa: Cristiana Chamorro Barrios, Pedro Joaquín Chamorro Barrios, and Juan Lorenzo Holmann, IAPA regional vice-president in Nicaragua. There was also the closure of some 1,800 non-governmental organizations, among other actions.

The IAPA officers reiterated their support for the actions contemplated in the Declaration on Nicaragua, aimed at promoting the reestablishment of freedom, democracy, and guarantees of the rule of law in the country.

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Arbitrary closures of groups impede rights, humanitarian work

Nicaraguan authorities have closed hundreds of nongovernmental organizations, applying highly restrictive legislation that undermines freedom of association and freedom of expression, Human Rights Watch said today. Concerned governments, especially from Latin America, should condemn this systematic dismantling of civil society groups, which play a critical role in a country that has no independent state institutions left to act as a check on executive power.

Since June 6, 2022, Nicaraguan authorities have passed laws and resolutions canceling the legal registration of over 770 nongovernmental organizations and foundations, effectively forcing them to shut down their operations in the country. These include medical associations and organizations working on a range of issues from child protection to women’s rights to climate change mitigation. The government has canceled the registration of more than 950 organizations since 2018. Many of these decisions are based on abusive legislation, including a “foreign agents” law, passed in recent years by lawmakers allied with the administration of President Daniel Ortega.

“The Ortega administration in Nicaragua has systematically shut down human rights organizations and other nongovernmental groups to halt their efforts to expose abuses and the authorities’ inability to provide services to the Nicaraguan people,” said Tamara Taraciuk Broner, acting Americas director at Human Rights Watch. “Nicaraguan authorities are so obsessed with wiping out civic space that they’ve gone after groups that provide critically important aid to poor communities in a country that has been severely affected by two hurricanes and a pandemic.”

Among these recent actions is the National Assembly’s decision to cancel, on June 30, the legal registration of 100 groups, saying they had failed to submit “detailed financial statements,” the names of their board members, “prior international donations,” and “information on the identity and source of all donors,” and that they had failed to “promote policies of transparency, integrity, and public trust.”

Shutting down nongovernmental organizations is part of a much broader effort to silence civil society groups and independent media through a combination of repressive tactics that include abusive legislation, intimidation, harassment, arbitrary detention, and prosecution of human rights defenders and journalists. Since taking office in 2007, the Ortega administration has dismantled all institutional checks on presidential power, including the judiciary.

Among the groups stripped of their legal registration are dozens of humanitarian organizations, which play a critically important role in ensuring access to health services, water, and food for low-income, mostly rural communities.

In mid-March 2022, the National Assembly canceled the legal registration of a global medical charity that provides free health care to children and adults. For over 20 years, the organization had operated medical programs in several cities across the country and provided health care to thousands of Nicaraguans. It was one of 25 groups closed on the same day in March by the National Assembly, which said the groups “had not complied with and violated laws,” without further explanation.

In mid-August 2021, the Interior Ministry canceled the registration of an international development organization that had operated in Nicaragua for decades, including by fostering climate change resilience and food security. The work of the organization, which provided support to thousands of people in the last few years, focused primarily on improving social and economic conditions for women and Indigenous communities on the Caribbean Coast and in the northern part of the country.

Several other groups were stripped of their registration in mid-August. The authorities said the groups had failed to comply with legal requirements, including “clearly defin[ing] their financial sources, project portfolio, social impact, and if these are in accordance with the purpose and objectives of the entity.” The development organization publicly rejected the allegations.

Nicaragua has one of the highest poverty rates in Latin America and the Caribbean. In March 2021, UNICEF estimated that in the aftermath of the two 2020 hurricanes, about “1.8 million people, including 720,000 children, [we]re still in need of humanitarian aid, especially among the indigenous communities of the North Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua.”

The authorities have offered no clear explanation for each registration cancellation. The official decisions simply state that the organizations affected had not complied with legislation – specifically, abusive laws adopted by National Assembly members allied with the Ortega administration, including the “foreign agents” law adopted in October 2020 and the General Law for the Regulation and Control of Non-Profit Organizations adopted in March 2022.

The “regulation and control of non-profit organizations” law allows the Interior Ministry to ask the National Assembly to cancel the legal registration of groups for “using the organization[s] to promote campaigns to destabilize the country.”

The legislation allows the authorities to seize a group’s assets if its registration is canceled because it committed “unlawful acts,” violated “public order,” or hindered the Interior Ministry’s “control and surveillance.” The law states that all organizations can only have a maximum of 25 percent of “foreign members.”

The “foreign agents” law requires people or entities to register as “foreign agents” with the Interior Ministry if they “directly or indirectly” receive funding from abroad. Those who fail to register can face fines, the cancellation of their official registration, and confiscation of their property.

To register as a “foreign agent,” a group must obtain a “certificate of registration” from the Interior Ministry, by meeting onerous and broadly defined requirements. “Foreign agents” have to provide reports and updates about any changes to the organization’s “address, contact information,” “members of the board of directors,” or “any other information required by the Interior Ministry.”

They must inform the ministry “in advance” of any funds they receive as well as their “use and destination,” and submit “monthly reports of the activities related to their performance as ‘foreign agents.’” The Interior Ministry can also require organizations to present “additional information” when “deemed convenient.” Without the certificate, organizations are not able “to carry out movements of financial resources and/or material assets,” or open or maintain a bank account.

Several people Human Rights Watch interviewed, including members of civil society groups closed arbitrarily, said the authorities had routinely failed to issue the certificates, based on seemingly arbitrary reasons. Some said that authorities had required the information to be presented on colored paper instead of white paper. Others alleged that authorities had pressed them to remove or replace some board members who were perceived to be government critics as a condition to issue the certificate.

“The implementation of the legislation appears to be designed in a way that makes it impossible to comply with it,” said a former member of a group that was dissolved.

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