After 16 months without any public information about Fabiola Tercero whereabouts, the Nicaraguan journalist was presented to state-run and aligned media on Nov. 11. Tercero and her mother, Rosalina Castro García, gave statements denying she had disappeared, as reported by independent media and various press organizations.
“Here I am, with my mother and thank God I’m healthy at the end of the day, just a little bit of depression and anxiety,” Tercero told the media, according to a video circulating on social networks, which shows clear signs of editing.
“I’m here at home, I’m not missing,” Tercero said as someone could be heard telling her, “You never have been.” Tercero replied, “I’ve never been.” She said that she had been at home the entire time during these 16 months.
On July 12, 2024, Tercero managed to warn her closest circle that at least seven members of the National Police were raiding her home. The journalist also gave the names of three police officers, including the commissioner leading the operation.
Tercero's call was cut off and from that moment on there was never any public information about her or her family until her statements in November 2025.
Various organizations and independent media outlets reported in the last 16 months that Tercero's whereabouts were unknown.
In recent years, Tercero had distanced herself from journalism and was dedicated to a personal project known as “El Rincón de Fabi” (Fabi’s Corner), through which she promoted reading among children and adults by exchanging books. Despite not working as a journalist, Tercero was under a monitoring regime that required her to report to a police station, according to media outlet Artículo 66 and Reporters Without Borders (RSF, for its French acronym).
📍🇳🇮 La periodista Fabiola Tercero Castro desmintió rumores en redes sociales que la daban por desaparecida o secuestrada, afirmando estar en casa. Esto expone la manipulación de sitios que atacan al gobierno de #Nicaragua. #Radio580 pic.twitter.com/vQaOZ6ys9w
— Radio 580 Nicaragua (@radio580nic) November 11, 2025
Tercero's recent appearance before pro-government media has led to questions and even outrage from organizations such as the Independent Journalists and Communicators of Nicaragua (PCIN), an entity that had been reporting her as disappeared and demanding information from the State about her whereabouts.
“This action is not a humanitarian gesture. It is a systematic tactic of the regime: to disappear, to torture with uncertainty, and then selectively show people in an attempt to mitigate international pressure and discredit the reports from media outlets and human rights organizations,” the PCIN wrote in a statement.
Gerall Chávez, president of PCIN, told LatAm Journalism Review (LJR) that they interpret Tercero and her mother's appearance as "proof of life," but that it offers neither peace of mind nor assurance that the journalist is completely free.
“We, who already know what a dictatorship is, don’t believe what happened today [Nov. 11] in Managua,” Chávez said. “We don’t believe it because there was an action on July 12, a raid on her house, we lost communication, and we campaigned, human rights organizations campaigned, the international community denounced the disappearance of Fabiola Tercero. Why hasn’t the regime spoken out in 16 months?”
Chávez, a Nicaraguan journalist in exile, emphatically said that they do not question what Tercero and her mother said, but rather the silence during this time of the presidential pair, Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo.
Tercero's home is located near the presidential residence, placing it within the security perimeter of the Ortega-Murillo regime, Chávez said. He added that since the journalist was reported as disappeared, it has not been possible to approach her home to confirm her whereabouts.
“Any responsible government, on the first day we reported the disappearance, would have come out and said, ‘We don’t have her, we’re going to check at her house.’ Especially since she was so close to their home,” Chávez said.
Artur Romeu, director of the Latin America office of RSF, was “relieved” to see Tercero and her mother alive after more than a year, but said that the journalist's appearance is an example of what reporters experience in the country.
“It’s impossible not to feel profound sorrow at the sight of the journalist’s tired and helpless face in the video released by Nicaraguan authorities,” Romeu told LJR. “The staged event is disturbingly reminiscent of the ‘proof of life’ videos often presented by abductors: a gesture that reveals the extent to which journalists in Nicaragua are treated as hostages.”
Romeu also said that as an organization they will continue to demand Tercero's freedom from the Nicaraguan State.
“The reappearance of Fabiola Tercero, revealed by the government itself after a year without news, is emblematic of the climate of terror that hangs over the independent press in the country,” Romeu said. “Reporters Without Borders (RSF) demands that Nicaraguan authorities immediately and unconditionally release Fabiola Tercero and her family, and end the systematic repression against journalists and media outlets.”
🚨 #Urgente | Medios oficialistas divulgaron este martes imágenes de la periodista Fabiola Tercero, quien permanecía desaparecida desde julio de 2024.
Después de más de un año sin contacto ni información pública sobre su paradero, Tercero fue mostrada cabizbaja y visiblemente… pic.twitter.com/fKjocnPJjE
— Despacho 505 Nicaragua (@despacho505) November 11, 2025
While pro-government media outlets describe the reports of Tercero's disappearance as a "manipulation campaign by the coup-plotting and fascist right wing" that demonstrates "the cynical and shameless way in which they lie and manipulate," human rights organizations analyze the "staged event" as an attempt by the Ortega-Murillo administration to reduce international pressure.
According to the media outlet Divergentes, Tercero's appearance comes on the eve of US President Donald Trump's decision on whether Nicaragua will remain in the DR-CAFTA free trade agreement.
“The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) determined…that the policies, acts and practices of the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo are ‘unreasonable’ and constitute a ‘burden or restriction on U.S. commerce,’ according to a resolution issued under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974,” Divergentes wrote.
According to the media outlet, in addition to Tercero’s appearance, the regime also released several political prisoners last week. One of them was journalist Leo Cárcamo, for whom the United States had demanded proof of life.
According to the Mechanism for the Recognition of Political Prisoners in Nicaragua, Tercero did not appear, but rather “was presented by the dictatorship.” “After more than a year of being missing, the Ortega-Murillo regime parades her before official media to clean up its image in the face of international pressure.”
The Mechanism added that 32 political prisoners remain missing in the country.
Chávez said that for now they have not been able to have direct communication with Tercero, so they do not know what conditions she is under or even if she has any legal restrictions, such as a house arrest regime.
“For Fabiola to be free, we need to see her continue living her life, doing what she did before, which was presenting and exchanging books, talking about literature. That would be the freedom we hope for, not for her to be incommunicado again,” Chávez said.
This article was translated with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Teresa Mioli.
