- Title: Nicaraguan police raid La Prensa newspaper, charge directors with fraud
- Date: 14th August 2021
- Summary: MANAGUA, NICARAGUA (AUGUST 13, 2021) (REUTERS) REPORTERS OUTSIDE LA PRENSA BUILDING POLICE VEHICLE PARKED IN FRONT OF BUILDING VARIOUS OF POLICE OFFICERS ON DUTY OUTSIDE BUILDING VARIOUS OF POLICE OFFICERS ESCORTING WORKER OF LA PRENSA POLICE OFFICERS ON DUTY OUTSIDE BUILDING PEOPLE WAITING OUTSIDE BUILDING (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) REPORTER OF LA PRENSA, GEOVANNY SHIFFMAN, SAYING: "This is one more measure of repression by the government against the independent press. We have seen that since 2018 (the government) has imposed measures against the independent press, and this is no exception. The objective of this new measure is silencing us, silencing independent journalism, and closing this media that has so much history. It has been more than 90 years." VARIOUS OF POLICE VEHICLES AND OFFICERS LEAVING LA PRENSA BUILDING OFFICER ON DUTY EXTERIOR OF LA PRENSA BUILDING OFFICER ON DUTY (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) REPORTER OF LA PRENSA, HANS LAWRENCE, SAYING: "I was arriving at the newspaper when I saw three police vehicles enter. One vehicle stayed in the parking lot, and the other vehicle entered the newspaper. They closed the gates. I tried to enter, and an officer refused me because it was closed and asked me to leave. Out of fear and because I was alone, I left." VARIOUS OF OFFICERS ON DUTY OUTSIDE BUILDING VEHICLE LEAVING BUILDING AND CARRYING SEIZED BOXES
- Embargoed: 28th August 2021 14:38
- Keywords: La Prensa Managua Nicaragua President Daniel Ortega newspaper
- Location: MANAGUA, NICARAGUA
- City: MANAGUA, NICARAGUA
- Country: Nicaragua
- Topics: South America / Central America,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA001EQ935MV
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Nicaraguan police on Friday (August 13) raided the office of La Prensa, the only national newspaper, after President Daniel Ortega's government opened customs fraud and money laundering investigations against the publication.
La Prensa has long been a thorn in the side of Ortega, repeatedly referring to him as a "dictator" after his security forces in 2018 crushed a wave of protests in the Central American country and 326 people died.
On Thursday (August 12), the 95-year-old newspaper said it would only publish digital content as the authorities had impounded its ink and paper, forcing it to stop printing a paper edition.
La Prensa's editor-in-chief, Eduardo EnrÃquez, told Reuters that policemen raided the newspaper's offices on Friday and prohibited staff from using their cell phones. Enriquez said he was not at the newspaper when the police arrived.
The police raid follows a months-long crackdown by Ortega's government against its political rivals, including multiple presidential candidates, ahead of elections due in November.
Ortega, who has ruled Nicaragua since returning to power in 2007, has said his administration was arresting and prosecuting criminals who were plotting a coup against him.
"The National Police initiated an investigation against La Prensa ... and its directors for customs fraud, money laundering," the police said in a statement.
The directors could not immediately be reached for comment.
La Prensa is owned by the Chamorro family, one of Nicaragua's most prominent. Several of its members, who aspired to contest the elections as presidential hopefuls in November, have been arrested in recent months.
That includes Cristiana Chamorro, the 66-year-old vice president of La Prensa and daughter of the late leader Violeta, who ended Ortega's first stint in power when she won the 1990 presidential elections.
Violeta's brother, opposition politician Pedro Joaquin, has also been detained, while her other brother, prominent Ortega critic and journalist Carlos Fernando Chamorro, fled abroad.
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