Dictator Daniel Ortega Arresting Opposition Candidates and Shutting Down Newspapers in Order to Stay in Office

Nicaraguan newspaper La Prensa announced that it was suspending its print edition due to customs refusing to release its paper imports at a time when the government is accused of repressing opponents. La Prensa was the only national independent daily newspaper remaining in circulation but as of yesterday, it will be available only online.

Nicaragua is gearing up for a general election in November but since the beginning of June, authorities have detained 32 opposition figures, including seven with aspirations of challenging President Daniel Ortega, who is seeking a fourth successive term.

Since Ortega came to power in 2007, at least 20 independent media sources have disappeared due to seizures of raw materials and forced closures, according to the Central American nation’s business union.  “La Prensa has been left without paper to continue circulation at a national level because the National Directorate of Customs is holding hostage the company’s primary material property,” the newspaper said.  Its front page was dominated by the words: “The dictatorship is holding our paper, but it cannot hide the truth.”

Customs is demanding the payment of tariffs to release the materials despite a provision in the constitution that excepts the press from such taxes.

It is not the first time customs has caused an independent newspaper to fall.  Three years ago, the Nuevo Diario, one of the newspapers most critical of Ortega, announced it had published its last edition because of a year-long government blockade of its newsprint imports.  Between 2018 and February 2020, customs seized over 92 tons of press materials.

Most of the media that have disappeared did so after the violent crackdown in 2018 of anti-government protests that left at least 328 people dead and 2,000 injured, according to rights groups.

Ortego also recently put an opposition Vice Presidential candidate under house arrest without justification.  Former beauty queen Berenice Quezada “was told by judicial authorities and the public ministry that from now on she was under house arrest without access to telephone communications and with restricted movement,” said the Citizen’s Alliance for Liberty (CXL).

The CXL said the 27-year-old had been told she is “barred from running for public office” and must remain at her home in the capital Managua under police guard.  Quezada, who was Miss Nicaragua in 2017, was a surprise choice for running mate for the CXL’s presidential candidate Oscar Sobalvarro.

68-year-old Sobalvarro was only picked to run in November’s election because five of the alliance’s presidential hopefuls were amongst more than 30 opposition figures detained by authorities over the last two months.  They are accused of treason and threatening the country’s sovereignty under a controversial law approved in December that has been widely denounced as a means of freezing out challengers and silencing opponents.

Critics have accused President Daniel Ortega’s government of trying to prevent any meaningful opposition from standing in November’s election.  Neither the police nor the public prosecutor’s office have confirmed Quezada’s detention.