Nicaragua: La Prensa fired more than half of its workers because of the persecution of Daniel Ortega | international

Nicaragua: La Prensa fired more than half of its workers because of the persecution of Daniel Ortega |  international

drowned out The persecution of Daniel Ortega’s regime, Newspaper the press, the largest and longest-lived in Nicaragua, On Wednesday, it announced the dismissal of more than half of its workers, associated with writing, finance, trading, marketing, warehousing and printing. Although the newspaper did not announce the number of dismissals, sources close to the media confirmed that there are about 110 collaborators – including 11 journalists – who were notified through Intercom. Layoffs, which represent 60% of employees, occur after 33 days The Nicaraguan Police will take over the writingIts general manager, Juan Lorenzo Holman, was detained and the newspaper’s bank accounts were frozen. “This situation has forced us to make the painful decision to reduce our staff to work only in sufficient numbers to keep us updated on our website and to ensure the company remains in the midst of a hostile environment imposed on us by the dictatorship,” he said. He said .. the board of directors confirmed the princeA in a statement posted on their website.

Political crisis in Nicaragua

Police stormed the newspaper’s headquarters on August 13. Officials seized the newspaper’s editorial room and administrative area on the same day that its issuance was suspended due to a lack of paper, due to the new customs ban imposed by the government. The police justified the seizure of the editing room, saying in a statement that an investigation had been opened against the editorial group the press and its directors in the alleged offenses of “customs fraud and money laundering, goods and assets.” Since then the newspaper is only published on the Internet. It is the latest coup of the regime against the independent press in Nicaragua, After the second raid on the editorial board of the magazine trusted And a warrant for the arrest of its journalist director Carlos Fernando Chamorro, exiled in Costa Rica.

The empty offices of La Prensa newspaper in Managua, on August 12.
The empty offices of La Prensa newspaper in Managua, on August 12.Image Alliance / Getty Images

the press It was founded in 1926 and was the heroine of the main events that marked the modern history of a troubled country like Nicaragua. The Somoza dictatorship – which has ruled the Caribbean nation for more than four decades – was ordered in 1978 Its director, journalist Pedro Joaquín Chamorro, was murdered, The most critical of the system. He also issued a decision to close the newspaper on several occasions Artillery and aviation of the National Guard fired at their headquarters In June 1979, a few weeks before the dynasty He was overthrown by the Sandinista fighters. The newspaper was also besieged by the revolutionary government in the 1980s, which suffered from censorship and blocking of supplies, and whose journalists were the target of repression. History repeats itself since 2007, when Ortega returned to power and Harassment of media and journalists as state policy.

In the statement published on Wednesday, the newspaper’s board, after demanding the return of the facilities, defied Ortega’s regime, noting that despite official persecution, the newspaper would continue to publish: “42 years ago, we launched the title ‘Buried’. They will be ‘, when he tried to Somocismo ending La Prensa by assassinating our martyred director Today, this cruel dictatorship is once again trying to destroy us, but as happened with the Somoza dictatorship more than 40 years ago, the princewill prevail to narrate Ortega’s downfall.”

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