San Jose/Brasilia/The Brazilian government decided on Thursday to expel Nicaragua’s ambassador, Fulvia Castro, in “reciprocity” for a similar measure adopted by Managua in an “unjustified” manner with respect to the Brazilian representative, official sources confirmed.
The decision was made after the government of Daniel Ortega formalized the expulsion of the Brazilian ambassador, Breno Souza da Costa, in retaliation for the diplomat’s absence, on July 19, at the commemorative events of the 45th anniversary of the Sandinista revolution.
The expulsion of the representative of the Government headed by Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was confirmed this Wednesday by the former Nicaraguan ambassador to the Organization of American States (OAS), Arturo McFields Yescas. The diplomat, who was part of the Sandinista government from 2011 to March 2022, said in X that “the dictatorship” issued an “ultimatum to the Brazilian ambassador to leave” Nicaragua.
McFields Yescas, who was denationalized by Ortega after he rebelled against him during a virtual session of the OAS in March 2022, commented that with that decision the Brazilian president, Lula da Silva and his Nicaraguan counterpart, Daniel Ortega, “have another strong clash.”
For many years, Lula and Ortega had maintained a close friendship, both on a personal and political level. Today, the honeymoon is over.
He recalled that Lula and Ortega have a friendship of more than 40 years, and precisely on the first anniversary of the Sandinista revolution, in 1980, during one of his visits to Nicaragua, Lula met the late Cuban leader Fidel Castro. “Years later Lula and Castro would form the infamous Sao Paulo Forum. Today Ortega expels the Brazilian ambassador with an ultimatum and insults,” he added.
According to McFields Yescas, “for many years Lula and Ortega had maintained a close friendship” both on a personal and political level. “Today the honeymoon is broken. Ortega expels the ambassador from Lula in a vulgar and ordinary way. Lula had asked his ambassador not to participate in public events with the dictator of Nicaragua,” said the diplomat and journalist.
The news was revealed by the Brazilian newspaper S.Paulo Newspaperand the Nicaraguan platform Divergentwhich cited diplomatic sources from their countries. Neither the Government of Nicaragua nor the Government of Brazil have confirmed or denied this information.
Ortega has not answered Lula’s phone since the Brazilian president advocated for Bishop Rolando Álvarez
On July 22nd, Lula He revealed that Ortega has not answered his phone since Pope Francis asked him to advocate for the situation of a bishop in that country. “I spoke with the Pope and he asked me to speak with Ortega about a bishop who was in prison,” he said. Lula In an interview with foreign correspondents, regarding the religious Rolando Álvarez, imprisoned for his opposition to the Nicaraguan government. “The fact is that Ortega did not answer my phone and did not want to talk to me. So, I never spoke to him again,” he added.
Lula He regretted that this happened to “a guy who made a revolution like the one Ortega made to defeat (Anastasio) Somoza” and said that today he does not know if that revolution was “because he wanted power or because he wanted to improve the lives of his people.”
The Brazilian president said he was in favor of “alternating power” in every country, because it is “the healthiest” for a democracy. According to Lula“When a leader believes that he is indispensable or irreplaceable, that is when the spirit of the dictator begins to be born.”
