Brazil and Nicaragua have expelled each other’s ambassadors, marking a significant escalation in their deteriorating diplomatic relations.
The latest dispute erupted after Brazil’s ambassador to Nicaragua missed an official event in Managua—the July 19 commemoration of the Sandinista revolution that led to President Daniel Ortega’s rise to power.
According to a Brazilian diplomatic source, the absence of Brazil’s ambassador was noted, but he was not the only diplomat missing from the ceremony. In response, Nicaragua requested that the Brazilian ambassador leave the country. Brazil reciprocated on Thursday by expelling Nicaragua’s ambassador.
Nicaraguan Vice President Rosario Murillo, who is also President Ortega’s wife, confirmed the expulsion in a statement to state media. She indicated that while Nicaragua’s ambassador was returning to Brazil, Brazil’s ambassador had already left Nicaragua.
Relations between the two leftist governments have been strained for some time. Tensions rose after Ortega rejected efforts by Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who had been trying to mediate the release of a jailed bishop at the behest of Pope Francis. Earlier this year, Nicaragua released two Roman Catholic bishops, 13 priests, and three seminarians, sending them to Rome, as reported by exiled Nicaraguan opposition media.
Arturo McFields, Nicaragua’s former ambassador to the Organization of American States who now lives in exile in the U.S., commented that the diplomatic rift further isolates Ortega’s regime in Latin America, particularly among leftist nations.
On the same day, Nicaragua’s government also announced the release of seven priests who had been detained the previous week and sent them to Rome. These priests were part of a larger group of 13 Nicaraguan clergy under house arrest in Matagalpa. Details about the remaining six priests were not disclosed.
Ortega, who initially came to power in the 1980s following the Sandinista victory, was ousted in 1990 but returned to the presidency in 2007. The UN reported that over 300 people were killed during anti-government protests in Nicaragua in 2018, which Ortega’s government labeled an attempted coup orchestrated by the United States.
