Managua (AFP)

Nicaraguan police raided the premises of the opposition daily La Prensa on Friday, already forced to suspend its print edition for lack of paper, while arrests of detractors and rivals of President Daniel Ortega multiply in the country to less than three presidential month.

In a statement, the Nicaraguan National Police said the newspaper's executives were under investigation for "customs fraud and money laundering".

Police officers surrounded and took over the daily premises in the middle of the day.

Journalists in the raid told social media that electricity and internet access were cut and newspaper servers shut down, and workers inside the building were banned from using their mobile phones.

La Prensa, a national daily founded 95 years ago, does not spare its criticisms of power.

He announced Thursday that he had to suspend its printed edition, its rolls of paper being held up by customs.

In 2019, another national daily, Nuevo Diario, also had to suspend its activity for the same reason.

The two newspapers had extensively covered the massive protests that erupted in 2018 against Daniel Ortega, which the latter described as an attempted coup.

Daniel Ortega, who is running for a fourth consecutive term, is accused of getting rid of his competitors in the run-up to the presidential election on November 7.

Candidate of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), this 75-year-old former guerrilla and his wife and vice-president Rosario Murillo (70) no longer have any serious candidate in front of them.

A total of 32 opponents have been imprisoned or placed under house arrest since the beginning of June.

Among them are seven potential presidential candidates.

According to the press union, at least 20 independent media have disappeared under the Ortega government, in power since 2007, following confiscation of materials or forced closures.

Most of them have ceased their activities due to the political crisis the country has been experiencing since 2018 and the anti-government protests in which more than 300 opponents have died.

© 2021 AFP