Media critics of Nicaragua leader Ortega made to pay

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Tracy Wilkinson reports from Nicaragua on how President Daniel Ortega, who led the 1979 Sandinista revolution, rewards sympathetic news outlets and punishes critical ones. One target is a member of the prominent Chamorro family.

‘When he finally emerged from court this year, criminal charges dropped, Carlos Fernando Chamorro had survived his latest battle with Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega.

‘Chamorro is almost as emblematic of Nicaragua’s 30-year-old Sandinista revolution as Ortega. During Ortega’s first presidency, in the decade that followed the 1979 revolution, Chamorro edited the official newspaper Barricada, largely a mouthpiece for the Sandinista National Liberation Front, or FSLN.

‘But today, Chamorro is one of the most outspoken critics of Ortega; in a regular television program and a weekly newsletter, he routinely denounces what he says is widespread government corruption and abuse of authority by an increasingly heavy-handed president.’

Click here for the rest of the report.

-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City