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Brazil expels Nicaraguan ambassador ‘on the basis of reciprocity’

Broadcast United News Desk
Brazil expels Nicaraguan ambassador ‘on the basis of reciprocity’

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In rethinking our relationship with left-wing authoritarian leaders

As tensions rise between Lula and Venezuela’s Maduro, both countries expel ambassadors

August 10, 2024 – Brazil and Nicaragua have expelled each other’s ambassadors in a tit-for-tat diplomatic dispute, with Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva appearing to recalibrate his approach to the left-wing authoritarian ruler, The Guardian reported in a press release.

This week’s twin expulsions come amid growing tensions between Lula and another so-called progressive leader, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who has yet to recognize Maduro’s claim to a second term. Lula and his counterparts in Colombia and Mexico have called on Maduro to release all Electoral College vote counts to support his victory.

Brazil announced on Thursday that it was expelling Nicaragua’s ambassador as “application of the principle of reciprocity,” following Nicaragua’s decision to expel Brazil’s ambassador two weeks ago.

Ambassador Breno de Souza da Costa reportedly refused to attend events marking the 45th anniversary of the Sandinista Revolution, when left-wing revolutionaries overthrew then-dictator Anastasio Somoza, at the behest of the Brazilian government.

Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega played a key role in the revolution but has overseen an increasingly brutal crackdown on dissent in recent years, jailing dozens of opposition leaders including former comrades and forcing hundreds of thousands of people to flee the country.

Nicaraguan envoy Fulvia Patricia Castro had been in office for just three months when she was expelled on Thursday. The same day she was named the new Minister of Family Economy by Nicaraguan Vice President and Ortega’s wife, Rosario Murillo.

Brazilian diplomats see Lula’s stance as a strategic move to counter accusations that he is lenient towards Maduro in Venezuela, according to Brazilian newspaper O Globo.

While Brazil has refused to recognize Maduro’s alleged victory, Lula has faced criticism, especially from the right, for not following the United States, Argentina and other countries in recognizing opposition candidate Edmundo González as Venezuela’s legitimate president.

Feliciano Desa Guimaraes, associate professor of international relations at the University of Sao Paulo, said Lula’s shift in attitude toward Ortega and Maduro reflected the domestic political costs of being seen as supporting two “dictatorships.”

“It’s a posture adjustment rather than a change of attitude. It’s more about the high internal costs of being seen as close to a regime that the Brazilian people reject,” Guimaraes said.

Lula and Ortega were once allies, but relations have been deteriorating for at least a year.

Last year, Brazil’s president responded to Pope Francis’s request and tried to intervene in the release of Bishop Rolando José Álvarez, a critic of Ortega’s dictatorship, who was imprisoned on charges of “conspiracy to undermine the integrity of the state and spreading false news”.

The Catholic leader was finally released in January after more than 500 days in prison, but was forced to leave the country.

In July, Lula said Ortega had ignored him: “The fact is that Daniel Ortega did not answer my calls and did not want to talk to me. So, I never spoke to him again, never again,” he said at a press conference.



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