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The regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo, through the Nicaraguan Institute of Telecommunications and Postal Services (Telcor), canceled the license of and confiscated the equipment belonging to Radio Stereo Romance, a radio station based in Jinotepe, Carazo, which had been on the air for 31 years, broadcasting on FM frequencies 105.3 and 91.1. The shutdown and seizure were carried out on the morning of Friday, May 8, 2026.
Francisco Gadea, owner and general director of the station, told CONFIDENCIAL that Telcor, through administrative resolution 024-2026, justified the closure and confiscation on the grounds that the station had “failed to comply with the requirements for license renewal.”
“Our payments are up to date. We paid the corresponding fees for 2026. They argued that we had not fulfilled the requirements properly and on time, and they came and shut it down,” Gadea said.
“They simply,” he continued, “requested certain documents all at once, and the different state institutions delayed the process, so it did not go through. But that is beyond our control.”
“The closure of a media outlet is a wound to the freedom of an entire people. Radio Stereo Romance does not die with a closure order; it lives on in every citizen who demands to be informed with the truth,” Gadea said in a statement released after broadcasts were suspended.
“We Never Silenced Anyone”
The station operated for more than three decades in the department of Carazo and was known as “The Giant of Southern Nicaragua.” According to its director, the outlet served as a platform for music, public service, and independent journalism, maintaining news and community programming throughout the region.
“The radio station represented the people. We never silenced anyone; it was a pluralistic station, we did not censor opinions (…) All citizens, regardless of their political affiliation, religion, or status, have the right to express themselves freely, and that was the philosophy of the station,” Gadea said.
For 31 years, he emphasized, the station became a key training ground for several generations of journalists, who found there not only a workplace, but also a true school for professional development.
“We taught that ethics are not for sale, values are not for sale — they are upheld until the very end,” added the owner and general director of the now-shuttered radio station.
Lack of Resources Hit Operations in 2020
The closure and confiscation of Radio Stereo Romance comes after years of financial difficulties in sustaining its operations, despite which the station managed to stay afloat.
In 2020, the station announced the suspension of its multimedia services and digital platforms due to a lack of financial resources, amid the deterioration faced by independent media following the sociopolitical crisis that began in 2018.
At the time, Gadea explained that the financial situation had become “unsustainable” because of delayed advertising payments and rising operational costs.
“Our reserves were exhausted,” he said then while announcing the reduction of the station’s digital operations.
“Radio Stereo Romance had never closed its doors in 31 years because of economic problems. We did scale back and shut down our web publications because they were not monetizable, and it was impossible to continue working under an unsustainable financial burden,” he said.
Telcor as a Mechanism of Control
The closure of Radio Stereo Romance adds to the wave of shutdowns, confiscations, and cancellations of media outlets in Nicaragua since 2018. The Foundation for Freedom of Expression and Democracy (FLED) lamented “the growing censorship in Nicaragua and the use of Telcor to continue silencing journalism.”
At least 61 media outlets had been shut down or confiscated by March 2025, and more than 309 journalists have been forced into exile since 2018.
In its 2025 annual report, the Office of the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) documented the arbitrary closure of media outlets, persecution of journalists, and the consolidation of a climate of censorship in the country.
The report also notes that numerous Nicaraguan journalists continue working from exile after facing threats, surveillance, and restrictions on carrying out news coverage within the country.
