Reporteros Sin Fronteras urges Spain to prevent journalist's deportation

Reporteros Sin Fronteras (RSF) Spain is calling on the Spanish government to intervene with United States authorities to prevent the deportation of journalist Luis Manuel Chavarría Galeano to Nicaragua.

Chavarría Galeano, director of the radio and digital program ‘Café con Voz’, was detained on September 14 in Orlando, Florida, while working as a rideshare driver. He is currently held at the Baker Correctional Institution and is scheduled for an immigration court hearing on October 2.

The journalist, who holds Spanish citizenship, fled Nicaragua in 2018 due to professional persecution following anti-government protests. In February 2023, Nicaraguan authorities stripped him of his nationality, labeling him among a group of individuals as ‘traitors to the fatherland.’

RSF has requested that the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Spanish Consulate General in Miami activate consular assistance mechanisms. The organization warns that deportation to Nicaragua poses a severe risk to Galeano due to his history of independent journalism and the repression faced by media professionals in his home country.