IAPA Midyear Meeting. April 23 - 24, 2026.
WHEREAS an authoritarian system has been consolidated that has dismantled the fundamental guarantees of freedom of expression and of the press, turning Nicaragua into a country where independent journalism is persecuted, criminalized, and forced into exile
WHEREAS the State has established a repressive apparatus that combines censorship, opacity in public administration, judicial persecution, arbitrary detentions, enforced disappearances, surveillance, and the economic strangulation of media outlets, along with vague legislation used to punish the dissemination of information
WHEREAS the regime has extended this repression to the digital environment and the transnational sphere through website blocking, harassment campaigns, stigmatization, and threats against journalists both inside and outside the country, creating a climate of fear and self-censorship
WHEREAS these practices constitute serious, systematic, and sustained violations of international principles on freedom of expression, in open contradiction with Inter-American human rights standards, as well as with the Declaration of Chapultepec and the Salta II Declaration, which establish that these freedoms are inalienable rights.
THE IAPA MIDYEAR MEETING RESOLVES
To strongly condemn the State of Nicaragua for implementing a structural system of repression aimed at silencing and dismantling independent journalism
To demand the immediate cessation of all persecution and harassment against journalists, media outlets, and their sources, as well as guarantees for the practice of journalism, including in exile
To urge the dismantling of the legal and judicial framework used to criminalize journalism, including the repeal or reform of laws that contravene international standards
To call for the full restoration of access to public information and the end of all forms of censorship, including digital blocking and restrictions on information platforms
To reject the use of public resources and economic mechanisms as instruments of pressure against the media
To call on the international community to maintain active monitoring and to promote concrete actions in defense of press freedom and fundamental rights.
