A Farm Family’s Son who Dreamed of Becoming a Journalist

Now he is in jail for having achieved it

This journalist from Nandaime in southwestern Nicaragua was the first member of his family to go to a university.

By 100% Noticias

HAVANA TIMES – Where is journalist Victor Ticay? This is the question that no one seems to answer, although ten days have passed since the morning of Wednesday, April 5th, when he was arrested in his home in Nandaime by police officers. His detention came a day after covering the “Resena” (a religious tradition) of Holy Week.

For more than ten years this journalist has told the reality of his town on the most watched TV network in Nicaragua and in recent years has used his social networks to reflect his Nandaime.

Used to reporting what happens in his municipality, this Holy Wednesday, Victor Ticay, 31, documented the traditional Resena, a kind of procession which takes place each year during Easter Week. He had no idea that covering this religious festivity would be cause for his arrest.

From a young age he wanted to be reporter

Ticay is the next to last of nine siblings raised in a rural community called Nandarola, which is located 15 kilometers from the small city of Nandaime, a municipality of Granada.

Unlike his siblings who dedicated themselves to agricultural work, Victor Ticay knew from an early age that he wanted to be journalist. He achieved it with a lot of effort. That is what a relative, who prefers to remain anonymous, told the newspaper La Prensa.

When he finished high school, Ticay stopped working in the fields and moved to the city to study journalism in Jinotepe on Saturdays, while on weekdays he dedicated himself to do other activities to cover the costs of his studies. He managed to graduate in 2015, from the now defunct Nicaraguan University of Humanistic Studies.

Unlike other professionals who move to Managua, the capital, to pursue their careers, Ticay, who is also the administrator of the Facebook page “La Portada,” worked his way in his own municipality. He showed that local voices matter equally. He earned recognition and admiration from the people of Nandaime and was frequently sought by citizens who requested to disclose their complaints or request social services.

Victor Ticay’s family clings to the hope that the Nandaime journalist will soon be released, because on April 4 he did the same thing he did every day, report the news of his municipality.

Although so far there has been no charge or formal statement against Victor Ticay, the Alertas Libertad de Prensa en Nicaragua (Alert, Press Freedom in Nicaragua) page reported on April 7 that the journalist was transferred from Nandaime to the cells of the infamous prison known as El Chipote. But his presence there and condition has not been confirmed as he has not been seen by his relatives.

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