Nicaragua Denies Al Jazeera Reporters Visas
The Nicaragua government denied the entrance to the country of two journalists from the Arab TV network Al Jazeera, who requested visas to cover the November 5 general elections, an official source reported Saturday.

Oscar Garcia, spokesman from the local Foreign Affairs Ministry, told Prensa Latina today that the decision was taken by the Department of Immigration, with the argument that the request did not fulfill all requirements for the "consulted visas."

The request was presented at the Nicaraguan embassy in Venezuela, place where the Al Jazeera regional office lies in Latin America, by a Syrian journalist and Colombian cameraman.

Garcia stated that Nicaragua has two types of visa, the consular one, which is the Foreign Affairs Ministry's responsibility, and the "consulate" or Category C, whose expedition is authority of the Department of Immigration.

The latter includes 40 countries, among them Syria, Cuba and other Asian and African nations.

Nidia Barbosa, assistant director of Department of Immigration, told El Nuevo Diario that journalist Dima Khatib and cameraman Carlos Duque did not fulfill all legal requirements demanded by the law to request their entrance to the country.