Costa Rica recognizes ‘sacrifice and dignity’ of freed journalist Lucía Pineda Ubáu

The Foreign Minister of Costa Rica, Manuel Ventura Robles, acknowledged the work and sacrifice of journalist Lucía Pineda Ubáu, who spent 172 days illegally and unjustly imprisoned in Nicaragua’s La Esperanza Women’s Prison by orders of Daniel Ortega’s regime. 

Lucía Pineda Ubáu, who has dual-citizenship of Nicaragua and Costa Rica, met last week with diplomats from Costa Rica, who since her arrest on Dec. 21, 2018 at the offices of “100% Noticias” in Managua sought to protect due process and the journalist’s safety.

Ventura recalled that on Feb. 11, 2019, he had welcomed to his office Lucía Ubáu, the journalist’s mother, and her uncle, Alejandro Ubáu, and promised to provide the necessary support.

“The journalist, when she was arrested, had been dedicated to reporting on the events that led the Nicaraguans to demonstrate against mistreatment, persecution and violence,” Ventura said. “That’s when she herself was hit by the repressive wave of the regime of Nicaragua and taken prisoner.”

More political prisoners remain to be freed

Ventura said there are others like Lucía Pineda Ubáu, who with “sacrifice and dignity remind us that sometimes the daily work of doing our jobs makes some uncomfortable.” 

Ventura also stressed Costa Rica’s commitment to journalism, freedoms and human rights in Nicaragua.

Pineda was released on June 12, 2019, through an Amnesty Law approved on June 8 of this year, by Nicaragua’s National Assembly, which is dominated by Ortega allies. The released political prisoners have expressed that they did not need such a ruling, arguing they are innocent of the charges invented by a Prosecutor’s Office dominated by the regime.

More than 400 political prisoners have been freed, but there are still 85 prisoners of the regime in prison.

Read the original story in Spanish at La Prensa, first published on June 14, 2019.

This story was translated into English and republished in The Tico Times as part of a partnership with La Prensa to help bring their coverage of the Nicaraguan crisis to an English-speaking audience.