• Nicaragua has officially withdrawn from UNESCO due to a press freedom award given to La Prensa.
• The award recognizes the newspaper's reporting amidst severe government repression.
• Nicaraguan leaders criticize the UNESCO prize as a betrayal and accused La Prensa of U.S. alignment.
• UNESCO's Director-General regrets the decision, stating it deprives Nicaraguans of cultural and educational benefits.
• This withdrawal raises concerns over freedom of expression in Nicaragua amid ongoing government crackdowns.

Nicaragua has formally notified UNESCO of its withdrawal after the organization awarded its 2025 press freedom prize to La Prensa, a newspaper that currently operates in exile. UNESCO's Director-General, Audrey Azoulay, emphasized that this decision hinders Nicaragua's access to cultural and educational cooperation, and reaffirmed the organization's commitment to defending freedom of expression worldwide, according to HuffPost, India Times, and TRTGlobal.

The prize was awarded to La Prensa, recognized for its courageous reporting under extreme repression, a judgment that the Nicaraguan government rejects. In his letter to UNESCO, Foreign Minister Valdrack Jaentschke claimed the recognition signifies a "vile betrayal against our Motherland," asserting that La Prensa promotes U.S. military intervention in Nicaragua, according to Los Angeles Times and HuffPost.

La Prensa has been publishing mostly from exile since being raided by Nicaraguan authorities in 2021, leading to the arrest of its manager and the subsequent confiscation of its assets. The current government's crackdown on dissent has intensified since the anti-government protests flared in 2018. Government sources have characterized the award to La Prensa as an endorsement of an anti-Nicaragua sentiment, according to Los Angeles Times, TRTGlobal, and HuffPost.

In the bigger picture, this move by Nicaragua repeats a narrative seen previously with the U.S., which withdrew from UNESCO in 2017, citing anti-Israel bias. The country rejoined under the Biden administration in 2023, but tensions remain high around UNESCO's influence and funding, as observed by India Times and Los Angeles Times.