Café con Voz

NOTE: Director Luis Galeano was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Sept. 14, 2026 and released on $10,000 bond on Sept. 26, 2026. His asylum application (filed 2019) is pending, DHS has confirmed he faces deportation proceedings, and an immigration court hearing is scheduled for Oct. 2, 2026. Details below reflect reporting through Sept. 27, 2026.

Overview

Café con Voz is an interview and opinion program about Nicaraguan politics and human rights, directed by Nicaraguan journalist Luis Galeano. It began on radio in 2012, later aired on television on the Managua channel 100% Noticias, and has been produced from exile in Miami, Florida, since January 2019. The program reaches its audience through YouTube, Facebook and other social platforms, and its website publishes opinion pieces. The site's tagline is "El saborcito de estar informado con Luis Galeano."

History

Luis Manuel Chavarría Galeano began his career at the Nicaraguan daily El Nuevo Diario in 1999 and was a writer in the Nicaragua delegation of the news agency EFE from 2004 to 2006. According to Galeano's own account, he left El Nuevo Diario in April 2012, after the paper was bought by the Promerica/Banpro group, and started Café con Voz as a radio program that originated at Radio Universidad. The program's own posts on X date its first broadcast to September 3, 2012. It later moved to television on 100% Noticias.

On December 21, 2018, Nicaraguan police raided and occupied the offices of 100% Noticias in Managua and arrested channel director Miguel Mora and news director Lucía Pineda Ubau; according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, the two spent 172 days in prison. Galeano left Nicaragua that December, after a Managua judge ordered his capture, according to EFE. In its own description, Café con Voz states that it aired on 100% Noticias until December 21, 2018, and that it has produced the program from exile in Miami since January 7, 2019. Galeano applied for asylum in the United States in 2019.

In February 2023, a Nicaraguan court declared Galeano a "traidor a la patria" (traitor to the homeland) and stripped him of his nationality and property, along with 93 other critics of the government of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo, including writers Sergio Ramírez and Gioconda Belli. According to the program and his family, Galeano was naturalized as a Spanish citizen in July 2025.

On September 14, 2026, ICE detained Galeano in Orlando, Florida, while he was working as an Uber driver. DHS confirmed he faces deportation proceedings while his asylum application remains pending. The Inter American Press Association (SIP) asked the United States not to deport him, and Reporters Without Borders asked the government of Spain to act to protect him. During his detention, his wife, Deykel Santamaría, continued the program's broadcasts. An immigration judge granted bond on September 23, and Galeano was released from the Krome detention center in Miami in the early hours of September 26, 2026, after his defense paid a $10,000 bond. He returned to the program that afternoon. His next immigration court hearing is set for October 2, 2026.

Notable information

• Sept. 3, 2012. First broadcast of Café con Voz, a program Galeano started after leaving El Nuevo Diario; it began on radio and later moved to television on 100% Noticias.

• Jan. 7, 2019. After the December 2018 raid on 100% Noticias, where the program had aired, Café con Voz resumed production from exile in Miami, according to the program's own description; the program continues to be produced there.

• Oct. 2024. The program posted that YouTube had certified its channel with the plaque for 100,000 subscribers. As of September 2026, La Prensa reported more than 160,000 YouTube subscribers.

Key personnel

• Founder & Director. Luis Manuel Chavarría Galeano

• Co-host & Producer. Deykel Santamaría - hosted the program during Galeano's Sept. 2026 detention

Audience

La Prensa reported in September 2026 that the program's YouTube channel has more than 160,000 subscribers. SembraMedia's media-directory listing (undated) gives 197,000 Facebook followers, 91,300 on X and 113,000 on YouTube. The program describes its audience as following it through social networks and asks viewers for financial support, including paid memberships on Patreon.

Location and contact info

Production base. Miami, Florida, USA (in exile since January 2019)

Coverage. Nicaragua and the Nicaraguan exile community in the United States

Website. https://cafeconvoz.com