# Nicaragua: freelance correspondent detained and deported after online campaign

Published 2026-09-23. Last reviewed 2026-09-22. 3 sources.

Status: historical, as of 2026-09-22.

What we don't know: The sources reviewed do not name the government office responsible for the deportation order.

A coordinated online campaign accused freelance correspondent Carl David Goette-Luciak of being a foreign agent and circulated his home address, after which he was detained and deported from Nicaragua in September 2018.[1][2][3]

- Country: [Nicaragua](https://thewaronnews.com/countries/ni) (RSF 2026 rank: 168th of 180)
- Where: NI
- Level of government: National
- Tactic: Expulsion and visa denial
- Stage: Punish (ladder: https://thewaronnews.com/ladders/expulsion_and_visa_denial#stage-punish)
- Ladder note: A freelance correspondent's home address was circulated online in a coordinated campaign, then he was detained and deported from Nicaragua; no comparable United States action in the record has removed a journalist from the country.
- Head of government at the time: [Daniel Ortega](https://thewaronnews.com/leaders/daniel-ortega)
- Issue of the day: Not stated in the sources reviewed.
- Outcome: Sustained, 30 September 2018. The deportation was not reported as reversed; the sources reviewed record at least 50 Nicaraguan journalists in exile by mid-2019.
- Era: The 2010s

## What happened

Beginning September 16, 2018, dozens of social media accounts, some appearing automated and posting nearly identical messages within minutes of one another, began sharing photographs and videos of Carl David Goette-Luciak, a United States-Austrian freelance journalist who had reported from Nicaragua on protests against President Daniel Ortega's government for outlets including The Guardian and The Washington Post. The posts accused him of working for the Central Intelligence Agency and of trying to destabilize the country, and some included his home address; other users called for him to be captured and handed to police, or expelled. Some of the accounts sharing the material were linked to government-affiliated organizations. Goette-Luciak was later detained and deported from Nicaragua that September.[1][2][3]

Closed; Goette-Luciak was deported and did not return to report from Nicaragua in the period covered by the sources reviewed.[1][2][3]

## What reason was given

Not stated in the sources reviewed.[1][2][3]

## What changed for reporting

The campaign and subsequent deportation removed one of the few foreign freelance correspondents then covering Nicaragua's protest movement for major English-language outlets.[3]

## Timeline

- 2018-09: Nicaragua: freelance correspondent detained and deported after online campaign

## Who acted

| Name | Role in this incident | Office at the time |
| --- | --- | --- |
| [Daniel Ortega](https://thewaronnews.com/actors/daniel-ortega) | other | President of Nicaragua |

## Outlets and journalists

| Name | Kind | Relation |
| --- | --- | --- |
| [Carl David Goette-Luciak](https://thewaronnews.com/journalists/carl-david-goette-luciak) | journalist | affected |

## Sources

1. Online smear campaign targets freelance reporter in Nicaragua. https://cpj.org/2018/09/online-smear-campaign-targets-freelance-reporter-i/ (Committee to Protect Journalists, 2018-09-25).
2. Journalists struggle to work amid extended internet shutdowns in Myanmar, Ethiopia, Kashmir. https://cpj.org/2021/05/journalists-shutdowns-myanmar-ethiopia-kashmir/ (Committee to Protect Journalists, 2021-05-03).
3. Crackdown in Nicaragua. https://www.hrw.org/report/2019/06/19/crackdown-nicaragua/torture-ill-treatment-and-prosecutions-protesters-and (Human Rights Watch, 2019-06-19).

## Claims cited

[1] Description of what the coordinated accounts posted about him. Quote: "They had the exact address, including the name of the owner of the house, which I didn't even know." Source: Committee to Protect Journalists, 2018-09-25. Online smear campaign targets freelance reporter in Nicaragua. https://cpj.org/2018/09/online-smear-campaign-targets-freelance-reporter-i/ Claim: https://thewaronnews.com/claims/639, checked 2026-09-22.

[2] CPJ's description of the campaign's coordinated character. Quote: "Some of the accounts sharing these posts appeared automated, using the same language and images and posting within minutes of each other" Source: Committee to Protect Journalists, 2018-09-25. Online smear campaign targets freelance reporter in Nicaragua. https://cpj.org/2018/09/online-smear-campaign-targets-freelance-reporter-i/ Claim: https://thewaronnews.com/claims/640, checked 2026-09-22.

[3] The kind of response the campaign encouraged from other users. Quote: "called for him to be captured and turned over to police, tortured, or expelled from the country" Source: Committee to Protect Journalists, 2018-09-25. Online smear campaign targets freelance reporter in Nicaragua. https://cpj.org/2018/09/online-smear-campaign-targets-freelance-reporter-i/ Claim: https://thewaronnews.com/claims/641, checked 2026-09-22.

Source page: https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2018-nicaragua-expels-goette-luciak. The War On News, CC BY 4.0.