By Dylan Baddour
A group of 60 journalists in Nicaragua’s capital city gathered in the offices of the national police to demand investigations into recent attacks on the press, which they allege are going unaddressed.
At least 50 journalists from radio, TV and print entered the Managua police station to file a written complaint, demanding respect for Freedom of Expression and prosecution of vigilantes who have been involved in attacks against the press. They allege that the police have stood by as government supporters violently put down anti-government protests and attack journalists who cover them.
Among the cases described by the protesters were aggressions against cameraman Javier Castro and reporter Edgardo Trejos.
Castro reported having his camera broken and being hit with a bat while filming a June 16 protest in front of the country’s Supreme Court. The attackers, allegedly government supporters, came on motorcycles with police license plates and the logo of the Managua city government, according to video footage shot by Castro.
Less than two weeks prior, Trejos was struck by a van while covering a protest of health ministry workers.
Police officials made no comment on the cases of Castro or Trejos, claiming they were not aware of the incidents. Fernando Borge, public relations director for the national police, said, “we’re receiving the document that you come to deliver, but I can’t say when we will give you a response.”
There have long been tense relations between the Nicaraguan press and government. President Daniel Ortega has accused private media of being foreign-backed ploys to undermine his government. Last year, two Nicaraguan journalists sought asylum in the US after receiving death threats.
In a 2012 report on freedom of expression, United Nations Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression, Frank La Rue, found that governments in many cases neglected to punish attackers of the press.
“…the Special Rapporteur has on many occasions stressed that impunity for those who attack and/or kill journalists is a central obstacle to guaranteeing the protection of journalists and press freedom, as it emboldens perpetrators as well as would-be perpetrators to attack journalists with no legal consequences,” the report said.
Journalists who entered the police station in Managua presented a list of ten alleged attacks on journalists by supposed government sympathizers in the past 18 months that remained unaddressed.
In the station, journalists were quickly surrounded by armed police and reportedly harassed by a man in his car as they left the protest.
Note from the editor: This story was originally published by the Knight Center’s blog Journalism in the Americas, the predecessor of LatAm Journalism Review.
