Nicaragua: Ortega Police Attack and Loot Newsroom of “Confidencial”

Armed officers completely emptied the offices, including journalists’ computers and other equipment.

“They entered liked criminals, it is an attack on freedom of expression,” denounced Carlos Fernando Chamorro, director of Confidencial

By Confidencial

HAVANA TIMES – Around midnight on Thursday, the offices of CONFIDENCIAL, where the writing of an online daily newspaper, weekly magazine and the television programs Esta Semana and Esta Noche are produced, were illegally and violently assaulted by officers of the National Police, loyal to the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo.

Computer equipment in the newsroom was stolen, in an act that the director, Carlos Fernando Chamorro, called a direct attack on freedom of expression in Nicaragua. He noted that the independent media has undergone the permanent siege of the Ortega regime, increased in the last months in the context of the official repression that since April 19^th has left 325 dead, thousands of wounded, dozens of disappeared and more than 600 political prisoners.

“They entered like criminals,” said Chamorro.

“This is an attack to silence the freedom of the press, to silence Confidencial and the Esta Semana and Esta Noche TV programs. But they will not succeed. We will continue on the side of the people, denouncing the abuses of the regime,” added the journalist.

The illegal raid occurs in the context of the cancellation of the legal status to nine civil society organizations in less than fifteen days, orchestrated by the Ortega bulldozer in the National Assembly.

Among the nine organizations that have been canceled is the Communication Research Center (Cinco), which had already been assaulted in this same space in 2008, also illegally.

Security personnel at the Confidencial offices explained that a group of police officers arrived around midnight and forced entry. They told how they were held at gunpoint by the officers during the assault.