PSA NICARAGUA PART 1: HUMANITARIAN ORGANIZATIONS CALL FOR INTERVENTION AMID HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSE AGAINST JOURNALISTS; JOINT INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATION REQUIRED TO BUILD DIGITAL RESILIENCE

Khushi Salian, Lorenzo Calavaro, Rebecca Davis, Hermione Goux, Gehad Ahmed, Jared Carvente, Andrew Britland, Camilla Montemarano, WATCH/GSOC Team

Alessandro Portolano, Lizel Klaasen Editor; Elena Alice Rossetti, Senior Editor

March 29, 2026

Nicaraguan Journalists^[1]

Introduction

In March 2026, over 20 humanitarian organizations called on UN member states to press the authoritarian regime of Daniel Ortega and his wife, Rosario Murillo, to answer for human rights violations against Nicaraguan citizens and nationals abroad.^[2] It controls the media, targeting independent journalists, restricting media outlets by repression and persecution, limiting reliable information, and reducing exposure of ongoing abuses.^[3] The Ortega-Murillo government will almost certainly continue to target independent media and journalists, enforcing censorship and compliance, while weakening Nicaraguans’ trust in the reliability of news output. The climate of threat created within the industry will very likely prompt more Nicaraguan journalists to flee from the country. Some exiled reporters will almost certainly seek to continue speaking out about the regime while overseas, while others will very likely strive to remain underground for fear of harm to their families back home. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) should back the increasingly online nature of journalism by supporting Nicaraguans’ access to methods of digital resilience.

Summary

In 2025, Nicaragua stands 172nd out of 180 countries in the Freedom of Press Index.^[4] The state has barred freedom of the press, taking over the majority of Nicaragua’s media networks as propaganda tools and to silence dissenting voices.^[5] The Ortega government has taken control of mainstream media networks like the TV channels four, eight, nine, and 13, and has spread its media control over prominent radio stations such as Radio Sandino and Radio Ya.^[6] As of 2025, the government has exiled over 250 media personnel from Nicaragua.^[7]

Post the 2018 protests, the Nicaraguan government introduced several laws specifically made to target journalists and political opponents.^[8] In October 2020, these laws, which include the amended 2020 Cybercrime law, came into effect, and authorities extensively used them against prominent government critics since 2021.^[9] The amended cybercrime law allowed the government to penalize independent journalists for spreading news on digital platforms like social media that the government deemed false.^[10] Authorities used this law to target Nicaraguans living in host countries, using mandatory registration of foreign funding of independent Nicaraguan organizations and news outlets to suppress their participation in internal matters and maintain strict control of the flow of information.^[11] 

Aside from repressing independent journalists, the government has used law enforcement to suppress traditional forms of media, such as print journalism, by targeting prominent newspaper outlets such as La Prensa, 100% Noticias, and Confidencial.^[12] In December 2018, the national police conducted multiple raids at 100% Noticias and Confidencial, confiscating their critical documents and equipment and detaining journalists, including the director of 100% Noticias, Miguel Mora.^[13] In 2021, law enforcement targeted La Prensa, detaining its director-general, Juan Lorenzo Holmann Chamorro, along with the former director and parliamentarian, Pedro Joaquín Chamorro Barrios.^[14] Authorities sentence detained journalists to prison mainly on accusations of inciting hate and violence,^[15] treason or money-laundering, often without sufficient evidence.^[16]

In January 2025, Murillo, in her newly appointed role as co-president, deepened control over the media, claiming to protect citizens from foreign influence and safeguarding their independence.^[17] The government started a campaign against independent media, forcing numerous outlets to shut down and many journalists into exile.^[18] They imposed a series of laws that sanction those who reportedly disseminate fake news on social media, targeting nationals abroad too, further limiting independent journalism.^[19] Journalists are subject to in-depth interrogation about their work, forced to check daily with authorities and explain what they are reporting on,^[20] and provide information regarding colleagues inside and outside the country.^[21] In Nicaragua, at least 280 media workers have fled the country due to intimidation and harassment, including unwarranted police raids of journalists' homes and the seizure of phones and electronic devices.^[22] 

The government applies digital espionage and surveillance and online monitoring to identify and track journalists' social media activities, hindering them from disseminating information.^[23] Journalists suffer from covert persuasion, coercion, and psychological pressure tactics, also targeting family members in Nicaragua to know their whereabouts.^[24] Police officers are coercing, threatening, and blackmailing journalists to become informants and spy on their colleagues if they want to remain in the country.^[25]

Since 2018, the Nicaraguan government has closed more than 5,600 non-governmental organizations (NGOs), including two representing the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), limiting independent and critical oversight.^[26],[27] In 2022, the UN established the Group of Human Rights Experts on Nicaragua (GHREN) to investigate abuses since 2018. GHREN reported systemic repression through constitutional reforms that concentrated power with the Ortega-Murillo regime and eliminated checks and balances.^[28] The report confirmed that the Nicaraguan government was responsible for politically motivated violations, including forcible disappearances, torture, and extrajudicial killings.^[29] Many nationals and exiled citizens faced intimidation and harassment through smear campaigns, property confiscations, proxy retaliation against relatives, and surveillance.^[30] 

The government has persistently oppressed women’s participation in politics, leadership roles in community movements, feminist movements, and the LGBTIQ+ community.^[31] The UN reports that the government presents a false image of gender equality, covering up sexual and gender-based issues within the administration.^[32] Under government directive, law enforcement has arrested female political leaders, academics, journalists, human rights defenders, protest leaders, and students.^[33] The government specifically targeted women in politics by restricting them from contacting their families and children, and labelling them as traitors.^[34] Female critics and detainees face severe punishments, including extended solitary confinement in prisons, invasive searches, and sexual violence, including rape, threats of rape, and forced nudity.^[35] The government has specifically targeted female journalists using their personal information, including threats towards their children and family members, and doxing them on social media, to forcefully leave the country.^[36] 

GHREN has demanded that the international community take human rights violations to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) regarding the Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness and the Convention against Torture.^[37] Nicaragua ignored previous attempts to highlight repression in the country by the UN and the Organization of American States and framed it as a coordinated international campaign against Nicaragua.^[38] The Ortega-Murillo government denied any accusations of wrongdoing, with Murillo dismissing the UN report that outlined the human rights violations as "falsehoods" and "slander."^[39] 

Since 2022, Nicaragua has increasingly served as a platform for the expansion of Russian state-backed information campaigns.^[40] The administration of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo has facilitated the integration of Russian narratives into domestic media by allowing state outlets to adopt content, production practices, and editorial material originating from RT and Sputnik.^[41] Through training programs, equipment provision, and professional exchanges, Nicaragua has increased the spread of Kremlin-aligned perspectives, framing Western media outlets as instruments of foreign interference.^[42] Russian influence extended beyond traditional media, as it supported academic programs, professional workshops, and social media campaigns that helped amplify positive narratives about the current Nicaraguan regime.^[43]

Analysis 

The government will almost certainly maintain tight narrative control in the media and continue to persecute independent journalists. Law enforcement, on the directives of the government, will likely implement restrictions on ground reporting, such as accessing sensitive areas and approaching certain religious or ethnic communities, likely to restrain journalists from presenting transparent news. Required daily check-ins, seizing of electronic devices, and overt methods of surveillance, such as cell-phone tower dumps in the country, will almost certainly result in a climate of fear amongst Nicaragua’s reporters. The government will likely amplify such intimidation using tactics of falsely accusing independent journalists of espionage, very likely destroying their credibility. Threat to individual credibility will likely make independent journalists choose to operate more in the digital space through spare electronic devices, likely using aliases and proxy servers to attempt to avoid government surveillance.

Some reporters who choose to stay in Nicaragua will very likely self-censor to avoid consequences for themselves, their colleagues, and their families, which will likely lead to public distrust in the information’s reliability.  Public distrust in the information's reliability will very likely cause misinformation and false narratives to emerge and increase likely due to the lack of alternative media options in Nicaragua.  Pro-government communities will likely take advantage of such situations and spread false narratives on digital platforms, using AI imagery and AI-powered voice modulation to falsify critical information, likely influencing youth opinion and dividing public unity. Some citizens, critical of the government, will have a roughly even chance of targeting journalists who modified their critical stance due to self-censorship, which will likely spread the narrative that the government has pressured independent journalists to change their stance.  

The rise of anti-government groups attacking journalists practicing self-censorship will likely make it easier for the government to target journalists using indirect means of mob groups. The government will likely try to integrate pro-government loyalists into such groups to aggravate them against journalists and use such groups in tracking physical locations of journalists, likely to restrict on-ground reporting. Pro-government loyalists will likely attempt to manipulate these groups in spreading their targets to include human-rights activists and independent journalists, very likely trying to shift the narrative of government targeting independent journalism and activists. The government will likely portray targeted attacks against journalists as a threat stemming from criminal or mob groups, likely aiming to exploit plausible deniability to blur its responsibility.

The Nicaraguan government will likely use social media platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram to spread propaganda and reinforce the regime's legitimacy. Coordinated messaging campaigns through pro-government accounts and state-aligned media outlets will likely shape positive narratives about the government. This information strategy will likely seek to influence both domestic and international perceptions by presenting the government as a victim of orchestrated misinformation campaigns, likely attempting to counter accusations of repression by reframing criticism from human rights organizations. By promoting these narratives, the government will likely weaken the opposition's credibility, portraying human rights advocates as unreliable sources. The government will likely dominate the digital information space, consolidating support while normalizing pro-government narratives that will likely undermine the legitimacy of human rights organizations’ accountability initiatives.

The government of Nicaragua will likely intensify efforts to discredit journalists who have fled the country by portraying them as politically biased or unreliable sources of information. Through coordinated messaging across state-aligned media and official communication channels, authorities will likely frame reporting produced in exile as manipulated by foreign actors or opposition groups. This narrative strategy will likely allow the government to undermine the credibility of external reporting while reinforcing domestic perceptions that critical information originates from hostile or illegitimate sources, likely eroding public trust in investigative reporting that documents human rights abuses or corruption. This will likely increase the informational gap between internal and external reporting, isolating the domestic public from independent sources of information.

Some reporters will very likely continue to leave the country rather than face intimidation and repression from the government. Reporters leaving voluntarily will very likely try to reorganize overseas with journalists in exile, such as Artículo 66 media outlet in Costa Rica, but will likely require external support, such as digital protection and security measures to avoid transnational surveillance from host countries and international organizations. Journalists will likely approach organizations such as RSF and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) to utilize their platforms to raise awareness about the situation in Nicaragua and demand accountability.  

Exiled citizens will likely prioritize survival as communities in host countries instead of directly approaching host governments for security, likely fearing potential deportation back to Nicaragua. Some exiled human rights activists and journalists will unlikely quit their professions as they are committed to continuing the exposure of human rights abuses in their home country, viewing their work as a direct act of resistance against the censorship and restriction of the Ortega-Murillo regime. Local NGOs in host countries will very likely be contacted to support the community, while larger organizations like Reporters Without Borders (RSF) are approached to pressure the Nicaraguan government. Exiled citizens will likely attempt to create awareness in the host countries using social media platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube to develop public support for their cause, but it will unlikely produce significant pressure on the Nicaraguan government as it remains largely resistant to external opinion.

Gender-based repression in Nicaragua will likely continue to function as a targeted instrument of political control against individuals that the government perceives as associated with opposition movements. Women, feminist activists, and members of the LGBTIQ+ community will very likely remain vulnerable due to their visible roles in protest movements, civil society mobilization, and advocacy networks that challenge state authority. By targeting women, the government will likely weaken segments of civil society that contribute to organizing protests and disseminate information against the regime. The government will likely cancel or suspend work licenses of women academics and teachers, dox female journalists' identity and physical location who are vocal against the government, to reduce the number of women in the workforce, increase gender disparity, and women’s ability to shape public opinion. There will be a roughly even chance of the government leveraging maternity and healthcare benefits to subdue opposition from women, likely portraying benefits as an acquired privilege instead of required necessities. Conservative members of society will likely exploit the government's discrimination against women and the LGBTIQ+ community to strengthen the opinion of the regime as defending traditional social values. This will likely result in online harassment and abuse on social media against feminist activists, likely polarizing society. The government will likely take advantage of this social division to further restrict women and support its own agendas.

Russia will likely continue expanding its influence within the information environment of Nicaragua by deepening cooperation with state-aligned media institutions to amplify messaging that portrays Russia as a strategic ally while simultaneously framing Western media outlets and exiled journalists as politically motivated or unreliable. By saturating the information space with these narratives, authorities will likely weaken the credibility of independent journalists who publish reporting critical of Russia or the Nicaraguan government. Russia will likely increase surveillance and monitor social media and online activities conducted by journalists and activists abroad, likely coercing and threatening them to suppress dissent.

Recommendations

The Counterterrorism Group (CTG) recommends that NGOs such as The Open Technology Fund (OTF) and Digital Defenders Partnership finance programs that strengthen digital resilience among exiled journalists, activists, and civil society networks by teaching them to use VPNs, encrypted messaging, and anonymity effectively online through secure communication channels. These skills should specifically aim at mitigating the impact of cyber harassment and pressure from the Nicaraguan government.

International organizations and NGOs, such as RSF, should expand support for exile journalism by funding investigative grants, strengthening infrastructure for exiled media outlets, and facilitating the translation and international distribution of journalists’ reporting. They should implement training programs focused on anti-surveillance tactics to improve reporters’ operational security and reduce the risks associated with publishing critical content about the government of Nicaragua. These organizations should train journalists in debunking government propaganda on digital platforms using social media intelligence (SOCMINT) tools such as InVID-WeVerify plugin to verify digital content posted by government-influenced media networks and sites.

NGOs and international human rights organizations, such as the Colectivo de Derechos Humanos Nicaragua Nunca Más and GHREN, should increase monitoring and documentation of national and transnational human rights abuses to support legal accountability efforts and sanction initiatives. Remote evidence collection should continue through video interviews, satellite analysis, and open-source intelligence to support accusations of human rights abuses with credible evidence.

Journalists who fled should focus on building resilient diaspora media and collaborating across exile communities. They should pool their investigative resources and focus on verifying credibility to counter the regime’s narratives and secure source channels back into Nicaragua. Journalists and media outlets who assist in publishing their work should protect sources inside the country by delaying publication, reducing the risk that media monitors link reported information to specific individuals.

Journalists in Nicaragua and abroad, along with NGOs and international organizations, such as RSF and Digital Defenders Partnership, should promote public awareness campaigns to improve citizens’ ability to identify misinformation and disinformation, particularly across social media platforms. They should use those digital platforms to educate the audience to identify propaganda materials and disinformation and verify sources of information. Journalists should avoid using specific hashtags, keywords, or revealing their real identity in their informational content to prevent government authorities’ potential tracking.

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[1] Journalists, generated by a third party database

[2] More than 20 organizations urged UN member countries to demand that Nicaragua be held accountable for human rights violations, Infobae, March 2026, https://www.infobae.com/america/america-latina/2026/03/18/mas-de-20-organismos-instaron-a-los-paises-miembros-de-la-onu-a-exigir-que-nicaragua-rinda-cuentas-por-violaciones-de-,ddhh/ (Translated by Google)

[3] Ibid

[4] Freedom of Press Index, Reporters Without Borders, https://rsf.org/en/country/nicaragua

[5] Nicaragua: exile is the only means of survival for independent journalism, Reporters Without Borders, 2026, https://rsf.org/en/nicaragua-exile-only-means-survival-independent-journalism

[6] THE AMERICAS Nicaragua, Reporters Without Borders, https://rsf.org/en/country/nicaragua

[7] Nicaragua: exile is the only means of survival for independent journalism, Reporters Without Borders, June 2025,

https://rsf.org/en/nicaragua-exile-only-means-survival-independent-journalism

[8] Ibid

[9] Ibid

[10] Ibid

[11] Ibid

[12] Ibid

[13] Nicaraguan police raid independent news station, arrest two journalists, Committee to Protect Journalists, December 2018, https://cpj.org/2018/12/nicaraguan-police-raid-independent-news-station-ar/

[14] THE AMERICAS Nicaragua, Reporters Without Borders, https://rsf.org/en/country/nicaragua

[15] Nicaraguan police raid independent news station, arrest two journalists, Committee to Protect Journalists, December 2018, https://cpj.org/2018/12/nicaraguan-police-raid-independent-news-station-ar/

[16] THE AMERICAS Nicaragua, Reporters Without Borders, https://rsf.org/en/country/nicaragua

[17] Nicaragua: exile is the only means of survival for independent journalism, Reporters Without Borders, 2026, https://rsf.org/en/nicaragua-exile-only-means-survival-independent-journalism 

[18] ‘They are hunting journalists’: Nicaragua’s covert repression tactics strike fear beyond borders, Committee to Protect Journalists, January 2026, https://cpj.org/2026/01/they-are-hunting-journalists-nicaraguas-covert-repression-tactics-strike-fear-beyond-borders/

[19] Freedom of Press Index, Reporters Without Borders, https://rsf.org/en/country/nicaragua

[20] Ibid

[21] Police in Nicaragua are pressuring journalists to hand over information about their colleagues, according to a report, La Prensa, October 2025, https://www.laprensani.com/2025/10/06/derecho-humano-ni/3541408-policia-presiona-periodistas-delatar-colegas-amenazas-fled (Translated by Google)

[22] Nicaragua: exile is the only means of survival for independent journalism, Reporters Without Borders, 2026, https://rsf.org/en/nicaragua-exile-only-means-survival-independent-journalism

[23] Police in Nicaragua are pressuring journalists to hand over information about their colleagues, according to a report, La Prensa, October 2025, https://www.laprensani.com/2025/10/06/derecho-humano-ni/3541408-policia-presiona-periodistas-delatar-colegas-amenazas-fled (Translated by Google)

[24]‘They are hunting journalists’: Nicaragua’s covert repression tactics strike fear beyond borders, Committee to Protect Journalists, January 2026, https://cpj.org/2026/01/they-are-hunting-journalists-nicaraguas-covert-repression-tactics-strike-fear-beyond-borders/

[25] Ibid

[26] Nicaragua Events of 2024, Human Rights Watch, 2025, https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2025/country-chapters/nicaragua 

[27] Comment by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet on expulsion of international human rights organizations in Nicaragua, Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, December 2018, https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2018/12/comment-un-high-commissioner-human-rights-michelle-bachelet-expulsion 

[28] Group of Human Rights Experts on Nicaragua, Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights https://www.ohchr.org/en/hr-bodies/hrc/ghre-nicaragua/index 

[29] Ibid

[30] Nicaragua: UN Experts uncover corrupt financing of repression and access spy network targeting exiles, demand justice and freedom, Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, March 2026, https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2026/03/nicaragua-un-experts-uncover-corrupt-financing-repression-and-spy-network

[31] Report of the Group of Human Rights Experts on Nicaragua, UN General Assembly, February 2026, https://docs.un.org/en/A/HRC/61/56

[32] Ibid

[33] Ibid

[34] Ibid

[35] Ibid

[36] Women journalists in authoritarian contexts face different challenges than their male colleagues when practicing journalism, LatAm Journalism Review, May 2022, https://latamjournalismreview.org/articles/women-journalists-authoritarian-contexts/

[37]  More than 20 organizations urged UN member countries to demand that Nicaragua be held accountable for human rights violations, Infobae, March 2026,

https://www.infobae.com/america/america-latina/2026/03/18/ms-de-20-organismos-instaron-a-los-paises-miembros-de-la-onu-a-exigir-que-nicaragua-rinda-cuentas-por-violaciones-de-ddhh/#Echobox=1773847831 (Translated by Google)

[38] Ibid

[39] Nicaragua Withdraws from UN Human Rights Council, Reuters, February 2025, https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/nicaragua-withdraws-un-human-rights-council-2025-02-28 

[40] Nicaragua: a Latin American hotspot for Russian propaganda, Reporters Without Borders, September 2025, https://rsf.org/en/nicaragua-latin-american-hotspot-russian-propaganda

[41] Ibid

[42] Ibid

[43] Ibid