The arrest of Leo Cárcamo and Elsbeth D'Anda, on top of the disappearance of Fabiola Tercero, demonstrates the escalating repression of independent journalism in Nicaragua.
This statement was originally published on rsf.org on 27 November 2024.
Journalists Leo Cárcamo Herrera and Elsbeth D’Anda were recently arrested by the Nicaraguan authorities. These detentions come on top of the enforced disappearance of journalist Fabiola Tercero Castro, and the exile of dozens of journalists since 2018. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemns the repression of journalists carried out by Daniel Ortega’s regime and calls for the immediate release of the imprisoned journalists.
The repression of Nicaragua’s independent press has reached alarming levels, and become a central strategy of President Daniel Ortega’s regime in silencing all forms of dissent. On 22 November, Leo Cárcamo Herrera, a veteran journalist who is now retired, was deprived of his freedom — and not for the first time — as part of a wave of arrests of voices critical of the regime. A few days earlier, on 27 October, Elsbeth D’Anda, a journalist with the television channel CDNN 23, was arrested after questioning the rising prices of basic necessities on her programme “La Cobertura”.
“The arrest of Leo Cárcamo and Elsbeth D’Anda, on top of the disappearance of Fabiola Tercero, demonstrates the escalating repression of independent journalism in Nicaragua. We urge the Nicaraguan authorities to release them immediately, and to communicate the whereabouts of Fabiola Tercero. These actions are unacceptable and violate the fundamental principles of press freedom. RSF urgently calls on the international community to step up the pressure on Daniel Ortega’s regime, and demands guarantees for journalists to do their jobs freely and in complete safety.”
Artur Romeu, Director of RSF’s Latin America Bureau
Leo Cárcamo Herrera has been a regular victim of repression in Nicaragua. In 2018, he survived a fire set by the Sandinista Popular Army, Ortega’s military, to the office of Radio Darío, which had been targeted for its coverage of protests that were shaking the country at the time. In 2019, Leo Cárcamo Herrera was arrested by the police as he arrived at Radio Darío’s office. He was released after three hours of interrogation and threats. That same year, the station decided to suspend news and programmes critical of the government for fear of reprisals. Another target of the regime is Fabiola Tercero Castro, a freelance journalist and feminist activist who has been missing since 12 July, when the police raided her home. Her family has also been missing since that day.
Media professionals have been targeted by legal proceedings. The constitutional reform adopted on 22 November strengthened President Ortega’s grip on the country, notably through increased surveillance of the media and civil society. In September, parliament had already approved a new cybercrime law punishing the dissemination of information deemed “false” or “harmful” by the government with up to five years’ imprisonment, which caused concern within the profession. Since 2018, more than 200 journalists have been expelled or forced into exile, while those who remain in the country — which ranked 163rd out of 180 countries and territories in RSF’s 2024 World Press Freedom Index — face an increasingly hostile and dangerous environment.
