From News Desk
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Nicaragua has decided to withdraw from the UNESCO in a letter sent to Audrey Azoulay the Director General of UNESCO. The decision came in the wake of the prestigious UNESCO prize the UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize being awarded to the exiled media outlet of Nicaragua, La Prensa – El Diario de los Nicaragüenses (The Newspaper of the Nicaraguans), founded in 1926. The prize has been established by its member states in 1997.
A UNESCO statement said that Since 2021, following the imprisonment and expulsion of its leaders from the country as well as the confiscation of its assets, La Prensa has continued to inform the Nicaraguan population online, with most of its team in exile and operating from Costa Rica, Spain, Mexico, Germany and the United States.
The Nicaraguan authorities justified their decision by denouncing the award as the “diabolical expression of a traitorous anti-patriotic sentiment” of La Prensa, which they accuse of promoting “military and political interventions by the United States in Nicaragua,” said the UNESCO statement.
This withdrawal will take effect on December 31, 2026.
Audrey Azoulay, the Director-General of UNESCO
“As Director-General of UNESCO, I received a letter from the Government of Nicaragua announcing its withdrawal from the Organisation in response to the awarding of the UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize to the Nicaraguan newspaper La Prensa – El Diario de los Nicaragüenses by an independent international jury.
I regret this decision, which will deprive the people of Nicaragua of the benefits of cooperation, particularly in the fields of education and culture. UNESCO is fully within its mandate when it defends freedom of expression and press freedom around the world,” said Audrey Azoulay, the Director-General of UNESCO.
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