Nicaragua: Juan Lorenzo Holmann Chamorro, director of the opposition newspaper La Prensa, arrested

The general manager of the opposition newspaper La Prensa, Juan Lorenzo Holmann Chamorro was arrested this Saturday after searching the Nicaraguan newspaper’s headquarters. National police reported that Holmann is being investigated by “Crimes of Customs Fraud, Money Laundering, Property and Assets”. With the arrest of the media manager there are already 33 opponents trapped by the government of Daniel Ortega, three months before the presidential elections.

Holmann was escorted by security forces until dawn on Saturday after the newspaper raid on Friday. Subsequently, the manager was transferred to the Legal Aid Department (DAJ). Meanwhile, journalist Carlos Fernando Chamorro, Holmann’s cousin, had denounced the manager’s arrest. “Holmann was taken by the police in his vehicle, guarded by two patrol vehicles, to the El Chipote prison”he wrote on his Twitter account.

Raid on La Prensa

On Friday, the newspaper La Prensa was raided for several hours until Holmann was arrested. “The police (…) invaded the premises, gathered and detained the administrative staff who were in the offices for almost two hours. What else, cut off internet access, power and disconnected all servers inside LA PRENSA”, Reported in the morning about the invasion in their offices.

“The order of the police was that they go to the parking lot (parking lot), not turn off the computers and take their phones and belongings. There, the editorial team met with officials from the administrative department. About 50 people were detained and watched by the police. They couldn’t answer calls. They were totally disconnected“Reported the newspaper The press.

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Journalists also recounted how they watched Holmann go from one building to another under police escort. “We looked at Don Juan Lorenzo worried, sweating”, the diagrammer told the Nicaraguan morning newspaper. According to had informed Holmann, the newspaper has stopped circulating in print since Friday. The manager attributed this to the fact that the government supposedly retained the function through the General Directorate of Customs Services. Meanwhile, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) and its Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression condemned on social media “the constant official persecution of the press in Nicaragua.”

On Friday night, during an anniversary ceremony for the army’s naval force, the president accused the owners of the morning paper of “laundering money and hiding evidence.” Also considered a “slander” the denunciation that “they ran out of paper, that’s why that newspaper couldn’t get out”. “When you lie like that, when you slander the state, you are committing a crime.” “Whoever slanders, whoever defames, goes to jail”, stressed Daniel Ortega.

A few hours before reporting on Holmann’s arrest, the police reinforced their presence in the newsrooms of the newspaper La Prensa with riot police. The official joined more than 30 opponents imprisoned since the end of last May, among them seven who intended to run in the next presidential elections, which will take place on 7 November. In turn, President Daniel Ortega and his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo, are seeking a new term at the head of the Central American country.

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