WHEREAS for more than a year the government is maintaining a customs blockage on supplies for the printing of newspapers, accelerating the closing down of the newspapers of Editorial Nuevo Amanecer that include El Nuevo Diario and Q'Hubo and imposing severe restrictions on the publication of Editorial La Prensa, which includes the newspapers La Prensa and Hoy
WHEREAS a Customs administrative tribunal has ruled three times in favor of the newspaper La Prensa to unblock the supplies in the face of the indifference and non-compliance of the government, and in addition the government did not comply with the unblocking of these supplies in the accords with the Civic Alliance
WHEREAS the government is consolidating ever more a communicational hegemony through a television, radio and electronic media oligopoly, aggravated by the shutdown of the 100% Noticias channel and of the opinion programs of Canal 12, as well as the closure of Confidencial
WHEREAS to the official secrecy regarding public information, where only the First Lady and Vice President Rosario Murillo is authorized to speak, there is added an arbitrary distribution of official advertising that exclusively favors media controlled by the governing family
WHEREAS Radio Darío of the city of León, set fire to last year by pro-government mobs, continues to be the object of raids by police and government groups since the return to the country of its director, Anibal Toruño, and in addition the investigation into the fire has been archived due to the supposed lack of information on the events to the police
WHEREAS the government and its diplomatic representatives continue to insist on denying the reports of the United Nations, the European Union and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) and other multinational bodies on broad violations of human rights, including murders, tortures, arbitrary arrests and constant harassment of opponents in their homes
WHEREAS the Daniel Ortega government prohibited the entry into the country of a special high-level commission of the OAS Permanent Council to seek a peaceful and negotiated end to the crisis
WHEREAS journalists Miguel Mora, Lucía Pineda and Marion Powell were jailed on June 10 in coincidence with the sending of an IAPA mission to Managua, but at the same time there is maintained the climate of repression and harassment of independent journalists who suffer unjustified accusations and arbitrary detentions, without due process, which has led to more than 70 journalists having to go into exile
WHEREAS the government justified before the IACHR the jailing and confiscation of the goods of Miguel Mora, alleging that he and his 100% Noticias channel were directly involved in a "coup d'état" that is in contradiction of the Amnesty Law approved by the government itself
WHEREAS there remains unpunished for more than a year the murder of journalist Ángel Gahona
THE 75th GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE IAPA RESOLVES
to condemn the Daniel Ortega government and First Lady and Vice President Rosario Murillo for the economic asphyxia carried out against the newspapers of Editorial Nuevo Amanecer, El Nuevo Diario and Q'Hubo, in an action denounced by the Inter American Press Association (IAPA) as "a shameful thing for Nicaragua and the free world"
to request the government, the unblocking of the retained supplies of the newspaper La Prensa and any other news media outlet in compliance with the rulings of the customs tribunal and of the accords with the Civic Alliance
to urge the government to desist from its desire to hide from world public opinion its repressive and anti-democratic actions and take up again the negotiations for a peaceful closure to the crisis that would include the participation of international bodies
to urge the government of Daniel Ortega and his wife Rosario Murillo to permit the development of a pluralist press and stop controlling the official information and its dissemination through their family news media companies
to call for the real clarification of the murder of journalist Ángel Gahona
to call for a halt to the attacks on and harassment of Radio Darío and the due investigation into the attack upon the radio station that has been archived by the police, as well as an end to the harassment of journalists who work in media critical of the government
to recognize as a positive matter, the release of journalists Miguel Mora, Lucía Pineda and Marion Powell, to demand of the government the return of goods confiscated from Mora, including the 100% Noticias channel, and guarantees for the practice of journalism and the physical integrity of the journalists and their families
to urge the international community to remain vigilant on the institutional and socio-political crisis in the country
to reiterate the IAPA's backing for the independent press in the midst of the social and political crisis precipitated by the attitude of the government to ignore the crisis that has been unleashed with its repressive wave against civil society and democracy.
