The European Union this week joined a growing international outcry against the Nicaraguan government's targeting of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs).

“The European Union expresses its concern for the harassment being subjected to NGOs, and, through them, certain people from civil society,” the 27 nations-strong bloc said in a statement issued Wednesday.

Nicaragua's government took several other blows this week, with statements by the U.S. State Department and the NGOs Carter Center, Human Rights Watch and Reporters Without Borders, criticizing different aspects they perceive as President Daniel Ortega's crackdown on the voice of opposition in his country.

The United States has begun to “question the credibility of municipal elections planned for Nov. 9 as an expression of the will of Nicaraguan people,” State Department spokesman Robert Wood said in a statement.

Read The Nica Times print or pdf edition for more on the conditions of non-governmental organizations in Nicaragua, and an opinion piece by Cristiana Chamorro Barrios, whose brother, journalist Carlos Fernando Chamorro, appears to be right in the government's sights.