Brazil and Nicaragua in Tit for Tat Diplomat Expulsions

On August 8, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva expelled Nicaraguan ambassador Fulvia Castro Matus, in response to Daniel Ortega’s decision to order Brazil’s ambassador to leave Nicaragua. The Brazilian diplomat, Breno de Souza Da Costa, was expelled for not attending Ortega’s official July 19^th celebration.

According to the Brazilian newspaper Folha de S. Paula, the Brazilian decision was confirmed by their foreign minister.

A statement from the Nicaraguan regime published hours later confirmed the simultaneous expulsion of Brazil’s ambassador to Nicaragua and Nicaragua’s ambassador to Brazil on Thursday August 8^th. It also informed that, upon her return, the expelled Nicaraguan diplomat will become the new Minister of Family, Community, Cooperative and Associative Economy (MEFCCA).

With the appointment of Castro Matus as head of MEFCCA, the Nicaraguan dictatorship tacitly confirmed the fall from grace of the Ministry’s former head, Justa Perez. Perez, along with other functionaries is under investigation by the Nicaraguan Police Economic Investigations Department of, as Confidencial recently reported

Brazilian ambassador advised of expulsion two weeks ago

At the end of July, Ortega ordered the Brazilian diplomat to leave Nicaragua. A high functionary of Brazil’s Foreign Ministry confirmed that the decision was in reprisal for the ambassador’s decision not to attend the official activity celebrating the 45^th anniversary of the Sandinista Revolution on July 19^th.

“The Brazilian diplomat acted under orders from the Brazilian Foreign Ministry. Given the freezing of relations, he had instructions from Brasilia not to attend certain political events organized by the Ortega regime,” the Brazilian official explained.

Fulvia Castro Matus, the expelled ambassador to Brazil, had only been approved as Nicaragua’s ambassador to that country two and a half months before. She is originally from Matagalpa, where she served as FSLN political secretary.

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“For several years she was in charge of the daily tasks of that immense network of our people’s social and cultural volunteers, in that daily battle for development, for security, for peace,” Nicaraguan vice president Rosario Murillo had stated on May 24, while announcing her appointment to the embassy in Brazil.

Relations cooling since 2023

Immediately following Nicaragua’s declared expulsion, Brazil’s foreign minister attempted to convince Ortega to reverse his decision. However, Ortega refused to backtrack, one of those involved told Brazil’s Folha newspaper.

“Managua’s decision was confirmed, and Costa was expected to leave Nicaragua on Thursday, August 8th,” the Foreign Ministry functionary told the Brazilian media outlet. The source also assured that the government of Lula da Silva “had been studying the question of what attitude to adopt in the face of Ambassador Costa’s expulsion.” Eventually they decided to order the corresponding expulsion of the Nicaraguan diplomat.

Diplomatic relations between Nicaragua and Brazil had been cooling since June 2023, when the Brazilian president attempted to intercede for the liberation of Monsignor Rolando Alvarez. The religious leader and former bishop spent over 500 days as a political prisoner of the Ortega regime, until he was finally banished to the Vatican in January 2024.

On that occasion, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula de Silva affirmed that his Nicaraguan counterpart hadn’t even answered a telephone call from Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Pope’s chief emissary, when the latter visited Brasilia in April 2023.

This article was published in Spanish in Confidencial and translated by Havana Times. To get the most relevant news from our English coverage delivered straight to your inbox, subscribe to The Dispatch.