Nicaragua lives under a constant state of censorship and criminalization of journalism: media confiscated by the regime, and journalists threatened, attacked, prosecuted, deported or forced into exile.
On Oct. 31, President Daniel Ortega's regime approved a law that may prove to be an additional mechanism to censor journalism. The new General Law of Convergent Telecommunications marks a before and after in the distribution of content in the country and, according to independent journalists, may have profound implications for freedom of expression and the digital rights of Nicaraguans.
“The regime has lost the battle of communication, it has lost the battle of truth and now it tries to rely on supposed legality to start this new campaign of regulation and control of content,” Carlos Fernando Chamorro, founder and director of Confidencial, said during a live stream on the media outlet’s YouTube channel.
This new regulation replaces the General Telecommunications and Postal Law, in effect since 1995 in Nicaragua. It facilitates authorities’ access to browsing and personal data of Internet users. In addition, it also establishes that the Nicaraguan Institute of Telecommunications and Postal Services (TELCOR, for its initials in Spanish) can force telecommunications operators, including media outlets and anyone who produces content on the internet, to request licenses and pay a percentage of their income to be able to operate in Nicaragua. Those who fail to comply can be fined.
Article 110 says telecommunications operators are required to provide all the information requested, “including statistical and georeferenced information generated from their participation in the market.”
This means that the regime will be able to access identifying information, such as names and addresses; communications metadata, such as calls and locations; and browsing or application usage history, as political activist, human rights defender and member of the Nicaraguan Assembly for Democracy, Alexa Zamora, told LatAm Journalism Review (LJR).
“It is important to notice what is behind this law, but at the same time it is important to recognize the capacity for resistance that the media in exile and Nicaraguan citizens have already demonstrated,” Carlos Fernando Chamorro, founder and director of Confidencial, said about the new General Law of Convergent Telecommunications
“The purpose of this law is to exercise total control over the few aspects that they still did not control in Nicaragua,” Zamora said. “The regime seeks to establish a constant monitoring mechanism.”
Some journalists fear that the approval of this law will further limit contact with sources within Nicaragua.
“People who could stop talking to us journalists for fear that TELCOR could even ask for the history of calls, websites visited, and more,” said one of the journalists consulted in a report on Nicaragua published by the Foundation for Freedom of Expression and Democracy (FLED).
Nestor Arce, director of digital media outlet Divergentes, is more cautious when talking about the possible implications that the law may have.
“You have to worry and take action but you can't fall into hysteria either,” Arce told LJR. “We cannot fall into misinformation and have people, especially older people, think that with this law the regime will now read their messages. In Nicaragua, censorship is escalating, they are seeing what works for them and what doesn't.”
Anyone within Nicaragua can access the content of social networks and independent media websites freely and without the need to use a VPN (virtual private network). That situation is far from the reality of countries with similar political contexts such as Cuba or Venezuela, where site blockings are common.
Much of the traffic for Nicaraguan media outlets that operate in exile comes from Nicaragua. Arce said between 52% and 58% of the Divergentes audience is located in the country and the rest is distributed among countries in Central America, the United States, Mexico and Spain where the majority of Nicaraguans of the diaspora live.
“To block domains there is no need for a law. The regime until now has done everything without the need for a legal framework,” Nestor Arce, director of digital media outlet Divergentes, said.
The people consulted for this article fear that the new telecommunications law will serve as a mechanism to order the blocking of specific websites, including those of independent media, and that this will affect the already weakened freedoms in Nicaragua.
“A drop in visits from Nicaragua, in terms of indicators and metrics, will obviously be noticeable,” Arce said. “But society obviously loses the most by not being able to have access to unbiased information.”
Arce explained that, through this new law, the regime could pressure private telephone companies such as Claro or Tigo to block the URLs of web pages with content contrary to their policies. However, he said that behind the approval of this law, there may be other reasons not related to an attack against the press.
“To block domains there is no need for a law. The regime until now has done everything without the need for a legal framework,” Arce said. “Maybe there are more fundamental things that they want to control. Some analysts dare to say that they seek to control the infrastructure, who opens a channel, whether it has national or community coverage, and also to continue to control the radio spectrum.”
Even so, Nicaragua's independent media are preparing for the worst. There are those who have created mirror sites of their web pages, others have created alternative channels for the distribution of their content and some have started education campaigns for their readers on the proper use of VPNs.
“It is important to notice what is behind this law, but at the same time it is important to recognize the capacity for resistance that the media in exile and Nicaraguan citizens have already demonstrated,” Chamorro said. “We tell our audience that we are committed to continuing to inform.”
