Nicaraguan police raid La Prensa newspaper, charge directors with fraud

A view shows the facade of La Prensa, Nicaragua's only print newspaper, which will no longer issue a print edition complaining that the administration of President Daniel Ortega was withholding the paper it uses for publishing, in Managua, Nicaragua August 12, 2021. REUTERS/Maynor Valenzuela

(Reuters) - Nicaraguan police on Friday raided the office of La Prensa, the only national newspaper, after President Daniel Ortega's government opened customs fraud and money laundering investigations against the publication.

La Prensa has long been a thorn in the side of Ortega, repeatedly referring to him as a "dictator" after his security forces in 2018 crushed a wave of protests in the Central American country and 326 people died.