McClatchy CEO Pruitt: We've Got No Beef With Google Ken Doctor's 'Newsonomics,' a Fitz & Jen Book Review Guild: 'Post-Dispatch' Contract Talks Turning 'More Acrimonious' Bollinger Named 'Aberdeen American News' Publisher While Leone on Medical Leave Remembering Subscribers in Mill Valley -- By Painting Stripes in Front of Their Houses Media General Also Paying High Price To Spread Out Debt UPDATE: St. Louis Gay Newspaper Comes Back From Dead, But as Magazine Minneapolis 'Star Tribune' Achieves Record Web Month Union, Management Set Tuesday Meeting on 'Newsday' Financial Status 'N.Y. Times' Ombudsman: I'd Transfer Jerusalem Bureau Chief With Son in Israeli Army | This week's top stories Mediaweek: Top Headlines

A newspaper workers union said Wednesday that dozens of regional daily newspapers in Venezuela are at risk of having to halt their presses due to government delays in providing foreign currency needed to import paper.

The National Union of Press Workers said in a statement that more than 50 dailies across the country "are on the brink of ceasing operations due to the lack of paper."

The organization accused the government agency that is in charge of administering Venezuela's strict currency controls of failing to provide dollars to pay pending debts in recent months to companies that import newsprint. It said "various dailies are already working with a small reserve of paper."

David Natera, president of the country's newspaper publishers association, told The Associated Press that some regional newspapers face a "serious" situation due to the lack of dollars to import paper.

Natera blamed the government for the crisis faced by some newspapers and said his organization, the Press Bloc, has called for an urgent meeting to evaluate the situation.

Tensions between the President Hugo Chavez's government and the media have been on the rise in recent weeks as the head of the telecommunications agency has announced plans to revoke the licenses of 240 radio stations and to limit the number of stations permitted in radio networks to three.

Venezuelan newspapers have complained in recent years about difficulties in importing newsprint.

Chavez's government has maintained strict currency controls since 2003, and all importers are required to apply to a government currency agency to obtain dollars at the official rate of 2.15 bolivars to the dollar.

Since the second half of last year, importers and businesspeople have complained of government delays in turning over dollars at the official rate -- a situation generated by the fall in oil prices, which are the country's main source of foreign currency.

The government agency Cadivi, which administers the currency controls, did not immediately respond to the complaints of delays affecting the newspaper industry.