Cambodia accuses Thailand of escalating tensions with new land crossing restrictions

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Cambodia's government on Tuesday accused Thailand of escalating border tensions by imposing new restrictions that have blocked almost all land crossings, especially for tourists heading into Cambodia.

Relations between the neighbors have deteriorated following an armed confrontation on May 28 in which one Cambodian soldier was killed in a relatively small, contested territory along their border. While the two sides have agreed to de-escalate their dispute, they have continued to implement or threaten measures that have kept tensions high.

The Thai army on Monday imposed heightened restrictions at border checkpoints with Cambodia following an order from Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra to allow only students, medical patients and others with essential needs to enter or leave Thailand. That also makes it impossible for thousands of tourists to cross between the two countries.

Pen Bona, a spokesperson of the Cambodian government, said Tuesday that Cambodia has committed to resolve the conflict through diplomatic channels, but tensions have soared because of Thailand’s actions.

“The Cambodian government has already stated that we will not initiate any border closure,” and that it will also lift restrictions if Thailand does so first, he said.

Cambodia has boycotted some Thai internet services, banned Thai fruits and vegetables, and blocked electricity and fuel supplies from Thailand in response to the border dispute. Prior to the boycott, Cambodia imported 30% of its gasoline and other fuel from Thailand.

Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Manet on Monday visited troops at the border and a temporary shelter for thousands of civilians who were evacuated from the area. He said that while Cambodia doesn’t want war, “we cannot stand by and let us be abused.”

In addition to border restrictions, Paetongtarn also announced measures targeting online scam operations in Cambodia. They include blocking exports that could facilitate such activities in Cambodia and coordination with other countries and international agencies to crack down on cybercrime based in Southeast Asia.

Pen Bona said that while he recognized that Cambodia "is being exploited by online scammers,” many such operations are also based in Thailand.

“This is a very shameful thing that is happening in Thailand, but they are trying to divert the story from Thailand to Cambodia,” he said.

Thailand earlier this year implemented measures to crack down on online scam operations in neighboring Myanmar, severing electricity, internet and gas supplies to border towns where the syndicates were based.

In this photo released by Agence Kampuchea Press (AKP), Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet, foreground, delivers a speech in front of his troop during his visit to Preah Vihear, near Cambodia-Thailand border in Preah Vihear province, Cambodia, Monday, June 23, 2025. (AKP via AP)

In this photo released by Agence Kampuchea Press (AKP), Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet reviews his troop during his visit to Preah Vihear, near Cambodia-Thailand border in Preah Vihear province, Cambodia, Monday, June 23, 2025. (AKP via AP)

In this photo released by Royal Thai Army, peoples sit near a border checkpoint between Thailand and Cambodia, in Sa Kaeo Province, Thailand, Tuesday, June 24, 2025. (Royal Thai Army via AP)

In this photo released by Royal Thai Army, a Thai police officer talks to peoples near a border checkpoint between Thailand and Cambodia, in Sa Kaeo Province, Thailand, Tuesday, June 24, 2025. (Royal Thai Army via AP)

In this photo released by Thailand's Government Spokesman Office, Thailand's Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra arrives at Government house in Bangkok, Thailand, Monday, June 23, 2025. (Thailand's Government Spokesman Office via AP)

A couple rides on a motorcycle after filling gasoline at a PTT, (Petroleum Authority of Thailand), outside Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Monday, June 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Nicaragua’s Interior Ministry said Saturday the country would release dozens of prisoners, as the United States ramped up pressure on leftist President Daniel Ortegaa week after it ousted former Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro.

On Friday, the U.S. Embassy in Nicaragua said Venezuela had taken an important step toward peace by releasing what it described as “political prisoners.” But it lamented that in Nicaragua, “more than 60 people remain unjustly detained or disappeared, including pastors, religious workers, the sick, and the elderly.”

On Saturday, the Interior Ministry said in a statement that “dozens of people who were in the National Penitentiary System are returning to their homes and families.”

It wasn’t immediately clear who was freed and under what conditions. Nicaragua’s government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The government has been carrying out an ongoing crackdown since mass social protests in 2018, that were violently repressed.

Nicaragua’s government has imprisoned adversaries, religious leaders, journalists and more, then exiled them, stripping hundreds of their Nicaraguan citizenship and possessions. Since 2018, it has shuttered more than 5,000 organizations, largely religious, and forced thousands to flee the country. Nicaragua’s government often accused critics and opponents of plotting against the government.

In recent years, the government has released hundreds of imprisoned political opponents, critics and activists. It stripped them of Nicaraguan citizenship and sent them to other countries like the U.S. and Guatemala. Observers have called it an effort to wash its hands of its opposition and offset international human rights criticism. Many of those Nicaraguans were forced into a situation of "statelessness."

Saturday on X, the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs again slammed Nicaragua’s government. “Nicaraguans voted for a president in 2006, not for an illegitimate lifelong dynasty,” it said. “Rewriting the Constitution and crushing dissent will not erase the Nicaraguans’ aspirations to live free from tyranny.”

Danny Ramírez-Ayérdiz, executive-secretary of the Nicaraguan human rights organization CADILH, said he had mixed feelings about the releases announced Saturday.

“On the one hand, I’m glad. All political prisoners suffer some form of torture. But on the other hand, I know these people will continue to be harassed, surveilled and monitored by the police, and so will their families.”

Ramírez-Ayérdiz said the liberation of the prisoners is a response to pressure exerted by the United States. “There is surely a great deal of fear within the regime that the U.S. might completely dismantle it,” he said.

FILE - Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega waves after attending the swearing-in ceremony of Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro for a third term at the National Assembly in Caracas, Friday, Jan. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix, File)