The annual press award from the UN Culture Agency was given to Nicaragua’s oldest newspaper on Saturday, amidst President Daniel Ortega’s ongoing rule. This paper, in publication for nearly a century, has had an online presence since police raids on its facilities in 2021, which led to the arrest of its manager, Juan Lorenzo Holman Chamorro.
In 2022, a Nicaraguan court sentenced Holman to nine years in prison, and he was deported to the U.S. in 2023. Yasuomi Sawa, Chair of the UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Awards, noted that “La Prensa has made a courageous effort to report the truth to the people of Nicaragua.” He highlighted that the paper, along with other civil organizations, faces severe oppression and continues to struggle for press freedom while operating from exile.
Ortega, a former guerrilla leader, has served as president from 1985 to 1990 and resumed power in 2007. Since then, the country has seen hundreds imprisoned and over 5,000 NGOs shut down following protests in 2018, resulting in an estimated 300 deaths.
Since Ortega’s fourth consecutive reelection in 2021, independent media in Nicaragua has faced significant challenges, including censorship and intimidation, with most of the dissenting media now operating from abroad. La Prensa, which has faced ongoing issues since its inception in 1926, endured attempts to suppress it both from the right-wing dictatorship of Anastasio Somoza in the 1950s and the Sandinista National Liberation Front in the 1980s.
UNESCO pointed out that La Prensa has experienced intensified oppression over the years, particularly in its distribution. Since 2021, following the imprisonment and expulsion of its leaders and the confiscation of assets, the paper has continued to inform the public online, with its staff working from various countries like Costa Rica, Spain, Mexico, Germany, and the U.S.
Holman remarked that this award serves as a recognition that uplifts press freedom in Nicaragua, stating, “In Nicaragua, there is no independent journalism. The dictatorship criminalizes it.” He emphasized the dedication required to be a journalist in such a climate and dedicated the award to “all independent journalists who continue to report from outside of Nicaragua,” calling them “the apostles of freedom of expression.”
Recently, UN experts reported on Ortega, his wife Rosario Murillo, and numerous senior officials for their roles in arbitrary detentions, torture, and extrajudicial executions.
