Nicaragua Withdrew From UNESCO After It Gave A Press Freedom Award To A Newspaper Critical Of The Government
UNESCO said it is right to “defend freedom of expression and press freedom", adding that Nicaragua's decision will deny Nicaraguans the benefits of education and cultural cooperation.
Nicaragua has said it is officially withdrawing from UNESCO, after the organization gave its annual Press Freedom Award to an opposition newspaper in the country.
UNESCO — the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization — is a UN agency dedicated to promoting peace and international cooperation through education, science, culture and communication.
It created the World Press Freedom Prize in 1997, which was named after Guillermo Cano, a Colombian journalist assassinated in 1986 for exposing drug cartels, to honor a person or organization that has made an outstanding contribution to press freedom anywhere in the world.
This year, UNESCO awarded its 2025 World Press Freedom Award to La Prensa, Nicaragua’s oldest newspaper on World Press Freedom Day on May 3.
UNESCO said that it awarded La Prensa, founded in 1926, because the newspaper “has made courageous efforts to report the truth to the people of Nicaragua” despite “severe repression” and being “forced into exile”, keeping the “flame of press freedom alive.”
The newspaper has a long history of reporting critically on human rights abuses, exposing Nicaragua’s President Daniel Ortega’s government’s violent crackdown on protests, censorship of media outlets, imprisonment and exile of journalists.
The government stopped La Prensa from printing in 2021 after arresting its journalists, including the general manager, and seizing its assets and printing facilities, according to UNESCO.
Since then, the newspaper has been running online with its staff living in exile in Costa Rica, the US, Mexico, Spain and Germany.
After La Prensa was honored with the award, Nicaragua called it “undeserved” and UNESCO’s actions “unacceptable” and announced it is leaving the UN agency on Sunday, May 4, according to AP.
UNESCO said it is right to “defend freedom of expression and press freedom", adding that Nicaragua's decision will deny Nicaraguans the benefits of education and cultural cooperation.
Nicaragua’s withdrawal will be effective on December 31, 2026, as it is required to continue its financial obligations until the end of membership.
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