Nicaragua suspends diplomatic relations with Vatican after Pope Francis’ ‘dictator’ remark: Report
(L) Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, (R) Pope Francis
Nicaragua has announced the suspension of diplomatic relations with the Vatican City in response to Pope Francis’ remarks where he compared the country’s government to a dictatorship, Reuters news agency reported.
On Sunday, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega announced the closure of the Vatican Embassy in Managua and that of the Nicaraguan Embassy to the Vatican in Rome.
Responding to the matter, Vatican City officials maintained that the latest move won’t correspond to a complete breakdown of the relationship between both nations, but they are serious steps towards that possibility, Reuters reported quoting sources aware of the development.
The flare-up between the two countries comes in the wake of the Ortega administration cracking down on dissenters following street protests that erupted in 2018 against the social security reforms that increased taxes and decreased benefits. Ortega called the agitation an attempted coup against his government.
The crackdown against anti-government severely strained the relationship between the Nicaraguan Catholic Church and the government as the Church was acting as a mediator between both sides.
Last month, Bishop Rolando Alvarez, a vocal critic of Ortega, was sentenced to more than 26 years in prison in Nicaragua on charges that included treason, undermining national integrity, and spreading false news.
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He was convicted after refusing to leave the country along with 200 political prisoners who were released by Ortega's government and sent to the United States. Alvarez refused to board the plane and was stripped of his citizenship.
Reacting to the arrest of protesters, the pope while speaking to Latin American online news outlet Infobae last week ahead of Monday's 10th anniversary of his pontificate, condemned Alvarez's imprisonment and likened what was happening in Nicaragua to the "1917 Communist dictatorship or that of Hitler in 1935."
(With inputs from agencies)
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