Nicaragua Pulls Cnn S Spanish Signal Off The Air

  The Nicaraguan government took CNN en Español off the air shortly after 10pm local time on Wednesday.   

  He has not explained why he removed CNN’s Spanish-language service and did not respond to CNN’s request for comment.  Cable companies that carry CNN en Español in the country also did not respond.   

  “Today the government of Nicaragua pulled our TV signal, denying news and information about Nicaragua from our TV network, which they have relied on for 25 years,” the US-based agency said in a statement.   

  Nicaragua’s fifth-term government under President Daniel Ortega has brutally cracked down on both the press and critics over the past two years.   

  Many Nicaraguan journalists have been forced into exile and there is “virtually no independent media in the country,” according to the press freedom group Reporters Without Borders.   

  “CNN en Español was the only remaining medium critical of President Daniel Ortega available to Nicaraguans,” Reuters reported Thursday.   

  CNN en Español said Nicaraguans can continue to find Spanish-language news on its website.   

  “CNN en Español will continue to fulfill its responsibility to the Nicaraguan public by offering the news links to CNNEspanol.com so that they can access information that is not available to them in any other way.”   

  “CNN supports our network’s reporting and our commitment to truth and transparency,” the statement also said, adding, “At CNN en Español we believe in the vital role that press freedom plays in a healthy democracy.”   

  In March of this year, Nicaragua’s ambassador to the Organization of American States, Arturo McFields, called his country’s government a “dictatorship,” citing, among other things, the suppression of independent reporting and the jailing of dissidents and political opponents.   

  “As of 2018, Nicaragua has become the only country in Central America that does not have a print newspaper.  There is no freedom to post a simple tweet, [or posting] a simple comment on social media,” he said.   

  “There are no human rights organizations… They have all been shut down, expelled or shut down.  There are no independent political parties, no credible elections, no separation of powers,” he continued.   

  Nicaraguan state media later posted a letter on Twitter saying McFields does not represent Ortega’s government.