While the Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo dictatorship has shut down independent opposition TV and radio outlets across Nicaragua, the Russian state network “RT en Español” is expanding its footprint in the country and will begin broadcasting over free-to-air television via UHF Channel 31.
The announcement was made Monday, September 28, by Rosario Murillo during her daily noon address. She announced that the Russian network’s signal will be available free of charge on broadcast television, with coverage expanding gradually to remaining departments nationwide.
«An information weapon» to support Putin
In a September 2024 interview conducted by Reporters Without Borders, Vladimir Rouvinski —an expert on Russia’s relations with Latin America— explained that RT «is an information weapon designed to support Vladimir Putin’s strategy beyond Russia’s borders. [The channel] appears on a list of strategic companies the Russian government needs in order to achieve its objectives; it has the same relevance to arms manufacturers. RT’s budget is guaranteed, as is the funding for the holding company that also owns Sputnik Mundo.»
According to Rouvinski, RT has successfully penetrated not only countries like Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua but also Argentina and Mexico. The expert notes that in Latin America, «RT primarily attacks the United States. Most of its programs are designed to damage the U.S.´s image and lead Latin American populations to believe that the United States is the cause of their problems, both domestically and across the Western Hemisphere. Coverage of issues such as immigration, human rights, and the environment are designed to cast the United States in a negative light. A look at RT’s programming reveals its agenda, which is strictly propagandistic,» he said.
En la misma entrevista, Reporteros Sin Fronteras calificó al canal ruso como el principal órgano de propaganda internacional del Kremlin.
Murillo announces that RT will expand its coverage in the coming months.
“RT announces that it has a free, open-air broadcast signal in Nicaragua on UHF Channel 31. This is the first phase of its free-to-air transmissions, and in the coming months, “RT en Español” will progressively expand its coverage to reach every department. It also remains available through cable television providers,” she reported.
During her daily noon address, the co-dictator provided no legal details regarding the concession nor the administrative resolution through which RT’s signal was authorized on Channel 31 UHF. The announcement also failed to clarify whether the Russian broadcaster will operate its own infrastructure or utilize the transmission networks of a Nicaraguan operator.
RT’s expansion into broadcast free-to-air television comes amid growing cooperation between Russian state media and the Ortega-Murillo regime’s official communications platforms. Although the channel was already available via cable operators, it is now entering free-to-air television networks.
RT and the Regime Deepen Ties Since 2022
The relationship between “RT en Español” and Nicaraguan state-run and state-aligned outlets began in 2022. In December of that year, a delegation of journalists from “RT en Español” arrived in Managua to conduct a training and exchange program for state media propagandists. These visit programs have been overseen directly by Daniel Edmundo Ortega, one of the dictator’s sons.
Over the past four years, multiple visits by delegations of Russian journalists have been documented. RT is now taking another step in Nicaragua by expanding Russian propaganda outreach across the country.
The expansion of the Russian signal stands in stark contrast to measures taken by the Nicaraguan Institute of Telecommunications and Postal Services (TELCOR) against domestic media outlets in recent years.
One of the emblematic cases is 100% Noticias, which was pulled off the air in December 2018 following the sociopolitical crisis that erupted in April of that year. The channel subsequently lost access to its transmission spaces and was stripped of its broadcasting license.
Freedom of the press organizations and news outlets have documented a continuous sequence of closures, license revocations, and regulatory restrictions targeting local independent radio and television stations ever since.
TELCOR Previously Pulled CNN en Español Off the Air
In September 2022, TELCOR ordered cable and subscription television operators to remove “CNN en Español” from their lineups after 25 years of continuous broadcasting in Nicaragua.
The ban went into effect on the night of September 21. The following day, TELCOR justified the move by claiming that content broadcast by CNN en Español “violates, undermines, and infringes upon” the nation’s legal framework.
The contrast is striking: while an international news network like CNN was forcibly removed from cable lineups by TELCOR order, RT en Español —a Russian state-run outlet— is now broadening its reach onto Nicaragua’s free public airwaves.
Disclaimer : This article was translated from its original with the assistance of artificial intelligence and reviewed and edited by a human editor.
