An alarming crackdown on freedom of the press is taking place in Central America. Nicaragua is the latest country to consider measures that would cripple independent journalism, dissent, and the opposition.
Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega’s Sandinista party controls 70 of the 91 seats in the country’s National Assembly, which is considering two laws that would suppress the media.
The first of the laws would require journalists who work for international media to register as “foreign agents,” provide information on their finances and activities, and refrain from “intervening in questions, activities or matters of internal politics.” About a dozen journalists in Nicaragua are employed by or freelance for international media outlets, including the Washington Post. A government representative called the proposal necessary to regulate those “who respond to foreign interests and financing, and use this financing to carry out activities that represent the interference of foreign governments or organizations in the internal affairs of Nicaragua.”
The second law establishes jail terms of up to four years for those who spread “false and/or misrepresented information which causes alarm” online. Critics call this law a tool to target journalists or social media users who criticize or write about the government unfavorably.
These bills are the latest attacks on independent media that have been taking place since the 2018 nationwide protests against the Ortega regime. Security forces have raided news outlets and blocked imports of materials for printing for media outlets like La Prensa. Journalists have been harassed, threatened, and forced to flee the country. Reporters without Borders (RSF), which tracks freedom of the press throughout the world, ranked Nicaragua as 117 in the 180 countries ranked in its 2020 World Press Freedom Index.
Since the 2018 protests, journalists have launched over 20 online publications. Julio López, director of the organization Independent Journalists and Communicators of Nicaragua, said that the government “wants digital media to not provide coverage of the crisis,” hence the proposed law on cybercrimes. The Forum of Independent Press of Nicaragua called the laws a threat “not just journalists and media, but also the freedom of expression of all Nicaraguans.”
And the crackdown on free press is a growing trend in the region. Over 500 journalists, artists and writers recently sent a letter to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights protesting attacks on independent press in El Salvador, which ranks 74th in the RSF index, after the country’s government announced an investigation of the media outlet El Faro for alleged money laundering after the publication of a government exposé on gang negotiations.
In Honduras, 148th in the RSF index, the government suspended the right to freedom of expression at the onset of the pandemic, only backtracking after a massive public outcry. This year, two journalists have been shot and killed, and another has died in prison after being accused of defamation. In Mexico, ranked 143rd in the RSF index, four journalists have been killed in 2020.
Photo: RSF