Nicaragua

Secrecy and lack of access to public information continue to be the tone of the government of Daniel Ortega. Only official media, which call themselves of Citizen Power, may report on government matters – no minister or official is allowed to give interviews, answer questions or inform. In his six years in government President Ortega has given only one interview or press conference, to a Russian television station. When he appears in public only he speaks, in lengthy monologues and in front of a uniformed and partisan public. There is a dual monopoly of radio and television media. One group belongs to Mexican businessman Ángel González and the other to the president’s family, which with money coming from Venezuela has been buying up or neutralizing all the electronic media, both in Managua and in the rest of the country. Only one television station and a few radio stations are outside the direct influence of the governing family. Now a Chinese company has announced, along with a son of President Ortega, a plan to put in orbit a communication satellite that covers Central America. No details were given, nor the cost or the specific function of this project. A law to regulate radio frequencies has remained in the Legislative Assembly since 2005. Uncertainty exists as to how legal are the frequencies assigned to radio and television stations. The abundant official advertising in electronic media is distributed only among the Citizen Power media, which has affected small and provincial news programs, many of which have had to shut down. In an unusual move in December 2012 the National Technological Institute (INATEC) published in the official gazette the distribution of its abundant advertising, which favors only official or semi-official media. On February 8, the Finance Ministry denied entry by the newspaper La Prensa and Canal 14 television to the signing of a loan made by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). At the Ministry’s reception there was a list of media that were allowed to cover the event. Nicaragua’s National Assembly passed a new Tax Code in which there was maintained the same article that the Supreme Court has not been able, or has not wanted, to declare as being unconstitutional, at the request made by the majority of media against Law 453 on Fiscal Equality. That law contradicted Article 68, paragraph 4 of the Constitution, which exonerates payment of tax on newsprint and other newspaper supplies.