On the morning of April 25, the Nicaraguan writer and poet Gioconda Belli received an alert from Managua: customs officials had banned the entry of her latest novel, Un silencio lleno de murmullos (A Silence Full of Murmurs), into the country from which she is in exile. The book joins other titles by Nicaraguan authors whose sales have recently been blocked by the regime of Daniel Ortega and his wife and co-president, Rosario Murillo. “The dictatorial power fears the truths that literature illuminates. That is why they expel us, exile us, and imprison us. This happens and has happened to writers throughout history,” Belli reacted. The censorship of her work is the latest chapter in a systematic offensive that has outlawed 81 cultural institutions in the country, confiscated festivals, and replaced independent creative work with an official offering controlled by the presidential family.

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