Brazil and Nicaragua expelled each other’s ambassadors on Thursday in a tit-for-tat retaliation as relations deteriorated between two formerly allied leftist governments.
“Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva decided to expel Nicaragua’s ambassador in Brasilia after Daniel Ortega’s government ordered Brazil’s envoy in Managua to leave the country,” Lula’s chief of staff said.
The spat confirms declining relations between Brazil’s Lula and some of the other Latin American left-wing governments
They have increased with division over Venezuela’s contested presidential election.
Lula has criticised the Venezuelan government for not releasing the vote tallied.
“In diplomacy there is reciprocity,” Chief of Staff Rui Costa told reporters.
“As the Brazilian ambassador there was asked to leave the country, reciprocity in this case means that the ambassador here also left.”
He said Brazil wants peace and good relations with everyone, but cannot accept its ambassadors being harassed.
Nicaraguan diplomat Patricia Castro Matus was told to leave Brazil because her government expelled Brazilian Ambassador Breno de Souza da Costa.
The expulsion came after threats to do so three weeks ago, according to a Brazilian official.
Nicaraguan Vice-President Rosario Murillo later confirmed that Brazil’s ambassador had left the capital Managua earlier that day.
He added that the Nicaraguan diplomat in Brazil would return for a post in the Central American nation’s economy ministry.
Last month, Brazil’s ambassador angered the Nicaragua government by not attending celebrations of the 45th anniversary of the Sandinista revolution.
This led to threats of expulsion and diplomatic rupture, which is now expected to happen.
Reuters/NAN
