AA
Share
The regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo, along with “their networks of fanatics,” has intensified “harassment and reprisals” in Nicaragua against the relatives of exiled journalists, denounces a report by the Foundation for Freedom of Expression and Democracy (FLED).
The quarterly report, which analyzes attacks on press freedom that occurred between April and June 2025, indicates that the regime has “extended threats against press freedom regardless of the journalists’ geographic location since, if they are abroad, they target their family environments.”
The document includes the testimony of a journalist exiled in the United States since 2023, who states that her family, remaining in Nicaragua, “was subjected to surveillance by armed civilians linked to the Sandinista party.”
The incident, which occurred on April 10, 2025, involved “acts of harassment and intimidation around the family home, causing a strong emotional impact on her relatives.”
“This intimidating action is interpreted by the journalist as retaliation for her professional work from exile. Although she is no longer on Nicaraguan territory, the communicator believes that the Government’s actions seek to indirectly punish her journalistic work by putting pressure on her closest circle,” warns FLED.
Another act of intimidation was reported anonymously by a journalist exiled in 2023, who reported that during April 2025 “surveillance of her family in Nicaragua intensified.”
“The communicator noted that Sandinista fanatics were watching her home, creating an atmosphere of fear and insecurity. She also revealed that this situation even led her to give up obtaining her daughter’s passport for fear of reprisals,” the report details.
“Hostile visits” and intimidating messages
Another exiled journalist reported that her family, living in a rural community in Nicaragua, received “hostile visits” from dictatorship fanatics.
In June 2025, a journalist collaborating with a digital media outlet in exile denounced being the target of a campaign of “systematic threats directed both at her and her family environment.”
She revealed that she has received “intimidating messages with precise details about her home address, the location of her children, and their family routines.”
The FLED report indicates that there is a growing number of Nicaraguan journalists who, from exile, continue reporting on the country’s reality, which leads them to face physical and digital threats both to themselves and their families.
“The threats received are part of a documented pattern of harassment against those who practice journalism in a critical and independent manner,” they mention.
40 Violations of Press Freedom
Between April and June 2025, FLED recorded at least 40 violations of press freedom in Nicaragua, 28 of which took place in the digital sphere.
They note that the shift of attacks to the digital realm reflects that “the physical presence of journalism within national territory is increasingly limited.”
“As exile and forced silence reduce on-the-ground coverage, harassment campaigns, threats, and attacks shift more strongly to digital platforms, where control and surveillance also intensify,” they point out.
The organization emphasizes that the number of documented cases does not cover all the aggressions that occur in the country because “fear persists as a barrier preventing many journalists from reporting what they experience.”
Between April and June, when the anniversaries of many of the 2018 citizen protests are commemorated, the regime “intensified its stigmatization campaign against independent journalism.”
Fear After the Murder of Roberto Samcam
The murder of Roberto Samcam, a retired Army major who was gunned down at his home in San José on Thursday, June 19, 2025, has sparked fear among exiled Nicaraguan journalists, especially those living in Costa Rica.
FLED asserts that this crime “has been interpreted by many as a direct warning to those who, from exile, continue practicing journalism or denouncing human rights violations in Nicaragua.”
“Far from being an isolated incident, the crime has triggered alarm over the possibility that repression may transcend national borders and put at risk those who have chosen to continue exposing human rights abuses in Nicaragua,” they state.
Journalists Abandon Work Out of Fear
FLED documents the forced exile of four journalists between April and June 2025, raising to 293 the total number of media workers forced to flee Nicaragua since 2018, which, according to the organization, “confirms the ongoing persecution of critical press.”
The report details that constant surveillance of journalists’ family members, police harassment during reporting, and direct reprisals have forced many to shift their coverage to community events or less sensitive topics; others have chosen to abandon their careers altogether.
“This form of censorship, combined with the many barriers to accessing information, is forcing many journalists to seek alternative sources of income, which in many cases means temporarily or permanently leaving journalism behind,” they lament.
