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🇳🇮 Nicaragua /Elections & Politics

Confidencial Marks 30 Years with Selection of Iconic Covers Documenting Nicaragua's History

From Confidencial · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

In-depth Named sources Outcome reported
  • Confidencial, a Nicaraguan magazine, is celebrating 30 years of publication with a selection of 30 emblematic covers.
  • The magazine documented Nicaragua's political and social transformations from the 1990s democratic transition to the current authoritarian regression.
  • Its archives, containing 1300 editions, are now digitized and available to subscribers, highlighting key investigations and historical moments.

Confidencial, a magazine that began as a print weekly in 1996, is marking its 30th anniversary by showcasing 30 emblematic covers from its extensive archive. The publication circulated uninterrupted for 26 years until political persecution under the dictatorship in Nicaragua impeded its print run. While the magazine was printed until August 2021, it continued to be distributed in PDF format until December 2022.

My conscience has no price.

— Zoilamérica Ortega MurilloQuoted in Confidencial's March 1998 edition, relating her denunciation of sexual abuse against Daniel Ortega.

Over its 1300 editions, Confidencial chronicled Nicaragua's journey through significant political and social shifts. It documented the hopeful democratic transition of the 1990s, the subsequent authoritarian regression under the Ortega-Murillo dictatorship, the state-sanctioned violence against citizen protests in 2018, and the ongoing calls for freedom, justice, and democracy. These archives have been digitized and made accessible to subscribers of its Membership Program.

The selection of 30 covers highlights the magazine's commitment to registering and analyzing current events, publishing significant exposés and special investigations that gained national and international recognition. The chosen covers also represent pivotal moments in Confidencial's own history, including its first and last editions, and those marking the most substantial changes in the country's trajectory. Notable covers featured include the "secret pact" between Arnoldo Alemán and Daniel Ortega in 1997, Zoilamérica Ortega Murillo's denunciation of sexual abuse in 1998, and investigations into corruption, such as the "superhighway" scandal in 1999 and the case of former DGI director Byron Jerez in 2022.

I want to be president again.

— Daniel OrtegaStated in Confidencial's December 2000 edition, upon solidifying his candidacy for the FSLN.

The magazine also covered significant political statements, such as Daniel Ortega's declaration of his intention to seek the presidency again in 2000. More recently, it reported on the criminal act against a former confidant of Daniel Ortega in February 2024, under the headline "Guadamuz knew the assassin." The publication's historical coverage also includes the privatization of Venezuelan cooperation, which early on signaled illicit enrichment by the dictatorship.

Guadamuz knew the assassin.

— ConfidencialHeadline from Confidencial's February 2024 edition, following a criminal act against a former associate of Daniel Ortega.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by Confidencial in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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