Ortega Regime Launches Campaign Against Free Press

Daniel Ortega, left, has been accused of implementing policies tied to media censorship and police brutality in Nicaragua. Source.

Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega has imposed hefty arbitrary taxes on news channel Canal 12 as part of a series of attacks directed at independent journalists in Nicaragua.

On September 12, judges  seized Canal 12, one of only two non-government controlled open television channels in the country. Shortly after the seizure, the General Directorate of Revenue notified the company of an outstanding tax debt of 21 million cordobas (about $600,000). The facilities, vehicles, and equipment assets used by the news channel were all confiscated, along with personal assets of administrator Mariano Valle. 

For the past two years, government pressure on Nicaraguan free media has steadily increased, with journalists facing physical assault by police as well as court cases for slander. Several news media outlets shut down as a result of government harassment, including notable programs such as Esta Semana and Confidencial. The regime demonstrated especially harsh punishment against those who exposed human rights violations occurring under Ortega.

Even previously-seized news outlets are not safe from fiscal action. Canal 100% Noticias, shut down since December 2018, also recently received a notification of eight million cordobas ($230,880) in tax debt.

News outlets, however, are not the only objects of the regime’s ire: Businesswoman Victoria Cárdenas—also the wife of Juan Sebastián Chamorro, one of the opposition leaders of the Civic Alliance for Justice and Democracy—received not only ten million cordobas ($288,600) of tax debt, but also  a criminal charge. 

In response to the regime’s oppression of free speech and the increase of police violence, the opposition declared a national political alert with criticism towards the armed attacks against protesting dissidents, mass-released prisoners, and the government’s poor handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. They also called upon the Organization of American States (OAS), the EU, and the UN to "promote actions to protect the people of Nicaragua, their freedom, their health and their lives."