Nicaragua will build a cultural center in a building occupied by the newspaper La Prensa

Managua, Aug 23 The Government of Daniel Ortega, through the Attorney General’s Office, delivered this Tuesday to the authorities of the National Technological Institute (Inatec) a building owned by the newspaper La Prensa, the oldest in Nicaragua, and which is occupied by the Police for a year.

The Attorney General of the Republic, Wendy Morales, delivered the documents from that building to the executive director of Inatec, Loyda Barreda, during a restricted ceremony held at the headquarters of the newspaper La Prensa.

Hours before that act, La Prensa, founded on March 2, 1926, denounced the “theft” and “de facto confiscation” of its industrial plant in Managua, valued at nearly 10 million dollars, by the Government of Ortega.

“The facilities of the newspaper La Prensa woke up this Tuesday, August 23 without the sign that had the name of the oldest newspaper in the country,” said that medium, which announced that “with this action the circus that the Ortega Murillo dictatorship will carry out to make official the theft of goods from the industrial plant of Editorial La Prensa”.

ROSARIO MURILLO: SPIRITUALITY CENTER

The vice president of Nicaragua, Rosario Murillo, said through official media that “those places that have been dens of machinations of crimes against humanity, today are centers for profound spirituality.”

“These are the final days of hate, because this blessed homeland and our people, God’s people, demands, daily demands peace and good, harmony, security, tranquility,” said Murillo, who worked at La Prensa in the decade from 1970.

“In the Don José Coronel Urtecho Cultural and Polytechnic Center the past will not return,” said the also wife of President Ortega.

Participating in the activity, among other officials, were the presidential adviser for education issues, Salvador Vanegas; and the co-director general of the Nicaraguan Institute of Culture, Luis Morales Alonso.

The facilities of La Prensa, located in an industrial area in the north of Managua, have remained in the hands of the National Police since August 13, 2021, when the Nicaraguan authorities alleged that the media outlet was allegedly used to commit crimes of “customs fraud”. , laundering of money, goods and assets”.

Its general manager, Juan Lorenzo Holmann Chamorro, nephew-in-law of former president Violeta Barrios de Chamorro (1990-1997) -who defeated Ortega in the 1990 elections-, was sentenced on March 31 to nine years in prison for the crime of “money laundering”.

EXPROPRIATED THIRD MEDIA

La Prensa, which now only publishes digitally, has said that among the assets seized are a $2.01 million rotary press and a $3.89 million commercial printing press, capable of printing, binding or gumming, “books, pamphlets, brochures, flyers, and any other printed material, including ballots.”

The newspaper, whose editorial staff was forced into exile last July after the arrest of two employees, has also warned that the Nicaraguan Constitution, in its article 44, prohibits confiscation, and that the State can only seize private property. when those affected are compensated, and that has not been the case.

La Prensa becomes the third media outlet whose facilities have been occupied and used by the Ortega government.

The other two are the buildings where the digital magazines Confidencial and Niú and the television programs “Esta Semana” and “Esta Noche” operated, directed by journalist Carlos Fernando Chamorro, who went into exile; and that of the channel 100% Noticias, critical of the Government.

The State has not explained the adjudication process for the installations of these buildings.

Efe has tried to obtain an official explanation from the Government about the procedure against these buildings, but this has not been possible.

Nicaragua has been going through a political and social crisis since April 2018, which has worsened after the general elections on November 7, in which Ortega was re-elected for a fifth term, fourth consecutive and second along with his wife, Rosario Murillo, as vice president, with her main contenders in prison. EFE

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Nicaragua will build a cultural center in a building occupied by the newspaper La Prensa