On Thursday, Brazil and Nicaragua escalated their diplomatic tensions by expelling each other’s ambassadors, marking a new low in their strained relations.
The conflict erupted after Brazil’s ambassador to Nicaragua missed a key event in Managua—the July 19 commemoration of Nicaragua’s Sandinista revolution. This revolution was pivotal in bringing President Daniel Ortega to power. Although the Brazilian ambassador was not the only diplomat absent, Nicaragua demanded his departure. In response, Brazil reciprocated by expelling Nicaragua’s ambassador.
Nicaraguan Vice President Rosario Murillo, who is also President Ortega’s wife, confirmed the expulsion through state media. She announced, “Brazil’s ambassador has left our country, and similarly, our ambassador is on her way back to Nicaragua.”
Relations between the two countries, both led by leftist governments, have deteriorated since Ortega dismissed efforts by Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to mediate talks for the release of a jailed bishop. This mediation had been requested by Pope Francis.
Earlier this year, Nicaragua released two Roman Catholic bishops, 13 priests, and three seminarians, sending them to Rome. This move was part of a broader crackdown on dissent, with more than 300 people reported killed during anti-government protests in 2018, which Ortega’s government dismissed as a U.S.-backed coup attempt.
On the same day as the expulsion, Nicaragua’s government announced it had released seven additional priests who had been detained in Matagalpa. The details regarding the other six priests remain unclear.
Former Nicaraguan ambassador to the Organization of American States, Arturo McFields, now living in exile in the U.S., remarked, “This is a significant setback for the Nicaraguan regime, isolating it further from Latin America and its left-wing allies.”
