Latin America and the media “Gag Law”

Nicaragua new 'Gag Law' makes fake news punishable by prison

Following the Brazilian example, other Latin American countries have been trying to implement authoritarian laws to silence conservatives on social media. Citizens of countries living under a communist regime such as Nicaragua may spend up to six years in prison for spreading “non authorized” information.

 

Recently on October 27th, the Congress of Nicaragua passed a law punishing what they have defined as cybercrimes. It is the formal of control of the internet by the communist state, thus consolidating totalitarian censorship in the central American country.

 

The 70 members of the SNLF Party (Sandinista National Liberation Front) voted unanimously to pass the approval of the law. Daniel Ortega, Nicaragua’s dictator ruler, is a member of the SNLF. The Gag Law will allow government to arrest anyone who spreads content considered fake news and regulate what is published on any kind of media.

Citizens may be penalized in several new ways:

 

- for circulating fake news (anything against the dictatorship): imprisonment of 2 to 4 years;

- for spreading debased fake news (outside the narrative of the dictatorship): 1 to 3 years in prison;

- publication of content that incites hatred or violence (strikes and boycotts against the dictatorial government): 3 to 5 years in prison;

- disclosure of non authorized information by the government (any material that may tarnish the image of the communist regime): 4 to 6 years in prison; and

- access to or dissemination of information viewed as threatening to national security (the stability of the communist regime): up to 8 years in prison.

 

Once the dictatorship is successfully implemented, government will be empowered to investigate and prosecute crimes committed by the press and by those who develop applications that produce, reproduce and post images and texts. Judges may compel internet service providers to disclose user data from citizens being investigated by the communist dictatorship.

 

Rather than simply censorship, this is total control of human behavior. The power grabbing plan of the revolutionary left is being successfully implemented.