TRANSCRIPT:
Well, I’m a journalist and I’ve known about Voice of America for many years, but honestly, I started getting much closer to its broadcasts and its coverage in the wake of the crisis that erupted in Nicaragua in 2018. Because, well, I’m a journalist and I also became a source for VOA reporters who covered the crisis in Nicaragua, the imposition of censorship, the political persecution. It was always a very balanced, very professional coverage, and it was a source of reference for us in Nicaragua, and above all, I believe, for the international audience.
Nicaragua is today a black hole for the international audience, for the international community. There is a dictatorship in place for more than seven years. It is a police state. And yet, people in Nicaragua today are getting their information through what we are covering from exile, even without reporters in Nicaragua. With sources, with a lot of verification effort, we are reporting on the country’s crisis, and well, it’s regrettable that Voice of America is not doing that work, not because it can’t, but because it has been prevented from continuing to do journalism in Nicaragua and around the world.
Published
Chamorro is a Nicaraguan journalist and founder of the investigative news outlet Confidencial. A leading independent voice in Nicaragua, he has continued reporting on authoritarianism, corruption and press freedom while working in exile.