Ana Chamorro de Holmann, one of the three owners of Editorial La Prensa and mother of the media’s general manager and political prisoner Juan Lorenzo Holmann, described the consummation of the assault on the newspaper’s facilities, occupied since August 13, 2021, as a robbery. by the Police of Daniel Ortega.
Chamorro’s statements —given to La Prensa— come after Daniel Ortega’s regime announced on Tuesday, August 23, that the newspaper’s facilities will now be the José Coronel Urtecho Cultural and Polytechnic Centerthe same action that happened with Confidencial and 100% Noticias, which passed into the hands of the State and became maternity homes or health centers.
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«They —the Ortega dictatorship— did not like that the truth was told in the newspaper. That’s called stealing. I simply steal because we have not done anything improper, all by law and by the Constitution that says freedom of expression and business, “said Doña Anita, as one of the owners of La Prensa is known.
“He pointed out that the government of (Daniel) Ortega took over the building and machinery of La Prensa, which is valued at almost 10 million dollars. «Confiscated by them, stolen because they have not warned us, what did we do, what is the bad thing that we have done?, he questioned.
Anita recalled that her son Juan Lorenzo Holmann was arrested, prosecuted and sentenced in the midst of arbitrariness, however, the government failed to prove the accusation of money laundering and said accusation does not mention the La Prensa building which was taken by the Police of the Ortega government.
He remarked that the dictatorship was able to steal the facilities of La Prensa “and give it whatever name they want but not the work done by the workers of La Prensa who are faithful to the truth and to that contribution of the newspaper, in being the voice of the people.”
Distraction from religious persecution
Another of the situations that Ana Chamorro de Holmann exposed is that what the regime did against La Prensa was a distraction, due to the criticism and denunciations of the arrests and persecution of the Catholic Church.
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«With what is happening with the Church and with Monsignor Rolando Álvarez, they want to cover that lack because they cannot find a way out of that chopped corn as we say here. They took off the mask they had, what little they had left of honesty and dignity, it’s not the country, it’s the government that does it. He has no other word than stealing and using us as a distraction », he said.
Likewise, he recalled that the outlet had already suffered closures in previous years and returned to circulation due to international pressure, waiting patiently and without negotiating with the dictatorial regimes that closed it.
Given the persecution unleashed against journalists from La Prensa, the outlet has been forced to exile its collaborators in order to continue practicing journalism.
For her part, the vice president of Nicaragua, Rosario Murillo, assured that the “José Coronel Urtecho Cultural and Polytechnic Center», which his regime set up in the facilities of the newspaper La Prensa, marks «the final days of hatred in our country».