Journalist Victor Ticay: “You Cannot Imprison the Truth”

Journalist Victor Ticay, who was arrested on April 6, 2023, after covering the La Reseña tradition during Holy Week and later banished to Guatemala by the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo on September 4, 2024, says he has 'mixed feelings' about regaining his freedom.

“Nobody wants to be locked up in a prison and nobody wants to leave their country abruptly”, he expressed in an interview with CONFIDENCIAL.

Ticay had been sentenced to eight years in prison for the alleged crimes of “propagation of false news,” “conspiracy to commit undermining the national integrity” and “treason.” He describes his days of imprisonment as “terrible,” but insists that he came out “spiritually strengthened.”

He laments having been unjustly imprisoned for 17 months, but says that when he decided to study journalism he acquired “a commitment to the truth” and “to the population.”

“During the time I was locked up, I was always convinced that I was on the side of what was right, that I had not committed any crime. I am proud to be a journalist. I will continue working in the field I like, doing what I know,” he reiterated.

For journalist Victor Ticay it is “absurd to imprison journalists because you cannot imprison the truth, because it always comes to light.”

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“When they imprison a journalist, there are 50 more doing the job outside. It is outrageous to want to silence someone just for reporting,” he laments.

The journalist was a correspondent in Nandaime (Granada) for Canal 10, the most-watched television medium in Nicaragua, and was also director of the Facebook page “La Portada”.

He recalls that his arrest occurred at his home in Nandaime, on April 6, 2023, one day after covering a religious event, when several plainclothes policemen arrived without a warrant to detain him.

“Seeing the video of the transmission of the procession, for which I was accused, is proof that I did nothing wrong,” he insists.

This article was published in Spanish in Confidencial and translated by our staff. To get the most relevant news from our English coverage delivered straight to your inbox, subscribe to The Dispatch.