The Nicaraguan government's aggressive actions against journalists are threatening press freedoms in the country, the president of the Inter-American Press Association (IAPA) warned.

Enrique Santos was in Nicaragua yesterday to study rising tensions between local reporters and President Daniel Ortega's leftist government.

Criminal charges

Ortega's opponents accuse him of trying to silence dissent through trumped-up criminal charges against journalists, but the president insists his government respects press freedoms and says none of the cases are politically motivated.

"We are very worried that press liberties will not be guaranteed in the future if the government continues with its aggressive strategy against the media," Santos said in a television interview late Monday with Carlos Fernando Chamorro, a journalist who has criticized the government.

In October, police raided Chamorro's Center of Media Investigations, seizing computers as part of an investigation into allegations the organisation misused foreign contributions. Chamorro, the son of former President Violeta Chamorro, has denied the allegations and accused the government of trying to intimidate critics.