The Nicaraguan journalist Hazel Zamora Hernandeznews director of a local program and contributor to the channel 10 of television in the southern Caribbean of Nicaragua, was arrested this Friday by the National Policeas reported by the platform Alerts Freedom of the Press Nicaragua.
“Nicaraguan police detain and raid the home of journalist Hazel Zamora”, reported through Twitter the NGO, which documents cases of violations of freedom of expression and press in Nicaragua.
At the moment, the National Police has not offered its version of that arrest.
The communicator, news director of the program Twelve News and correspondent of channel 10 of television in Bluefields, in the Nicaraguan Caribbean, was detained by police when she was traveling with her children on a bus, she told the news agency EFE a source from the organization Alertas Libertad de Prensa.
The journalist was taken off the bus along with her two children. The minors were handed over to the communicator’s mother, according to the source.
Zamora Hernández is the third journalist detained in the last three days by the regime of Daniel Ortega
Last Wednesday, at night, the communicators were arrested William Aragon and Oscar Vallecillowho were charged with the conspiracy crimes to undermine the national integrity and spread of fake newsconsidered as “treason to the homeland”.
These two communication professionals are part of at least 57 Nicaraguans, mostly opponents and critics of the Ortega dictatorship, who were arrested Wednesday night, charged with crimes of “treason” and sent under house arrest hours later.
Another Nicaraguan journalist who is being detained is Victor Ticayalso a collaborator of channel 10 from local television, who was arrested on April 6, one day after covering a religious procession in the municipality of Nandaime (southwest).
Five human rights organizations, including race and equality, condemned this Friday the new arrests in Nicaragua, which they have described as “a new wave of kidnappings”.
At least 185 Nicaraguan journalists have gone into exile for security reasons since April 2018, when demonstrations against the regime led by Daniel Ortega broke out, according to a report released by the regional network Voces del Sur.
“In the first quarter of 2023 we learned that 7 journalists were forced into exile due to the constant sieges and intimidation of which they were victims. From Voces del Sur we have systematized a total 185 journalists who have left Nicaragua since 2018″, indicated that regional network in a quarterly report.
In the report, titled Freedom of the press in Nicaragua without respite: Ortega does not stop attacking, that body documented a total of “14 alerts for cases of violations of press freedom, which resulted in 38 cases”, between last January and March.
“Threats of imprisonment and expulsion in the country appear as one of the main forms of intimidation against those who practice journalism,” said that regional network, which prepared that report together with its partner organization in Nicaragua, the Foundation for Freedom of Expression and Democracy (FLED). .
In the document, Voces del Sur explained that in 2023 they will not make monthly reports, but 4 quarterly reports, “due to the growing increase in self-censorship among the victims themselves, which has led to a decrease in complaints and the advance of criminalization.” of independent journalism.
Nicaragua has been going through a political and social crisis since April 2018, which has worsened after the controversial general elections of November 7, 2021, in which Ortega was re-elected for a fifth term, fourth in a row and second with his wife, Rosario Murillo. , as vice president, with her main contenders in prison or in exile
(With information from EFE)
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