No menu items!

COSTA RICA'S LEADING ENGLISH LANGUAGE NEWSPAPER

HomeTopicsLatin AmericaVatican closes Nicaragua embassy amid escalating row

Vatican closes Nicaragua embassy amid escalating row

The Vatican representative to Nicaragua has left the country and closed its embassy there amid continuing tensions between Managua and the Holy See, the Vatican News portal has reported.

Bilateral relations had been on the brink of collapse after Pope Francis in an interview last week referred to the government of socialist president Daniel Ortega as a dictatorship.

The portal said the diplomat, Monsignor Marcel Diouf, had traveled on Friday to Costa Rica.  The closure of the embassy “occurred as a result of a request from the Nicaraguan government,” Vatican News said.

It said custody of the apostolic nunciature in Managua had been “entrusted to the Italian Republic,” under terms of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. 

In an interview with Argentine portal Infobae on March 10, Francis described Ortega’s government as a “gross dictatorship” led by an “unbalanced” president.

In the interview, the Argentine pope also expressed concern, without naming him, for Nicaraguan bishop Rolando Alvarez, who in February was sentenced to 26 years in prison for “undermining national integrity,” among other charges.

Alvarez has been under house arrest since August and refused to be deported along with 222 political dissidents to the United States. 

Soon after, the Nicaraguan Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying that “a suspension of diplomatic relations (with the Vatican) has been proposed.”

Days before the pontiff’s comments, the Managua government closed two universities affiliated with the Catholic Church.

Since 2007, Ortega has engaged in increasingly authoritarian practices, exiling or jailing dissidents and rivals, quashing presidential term limits and seizing control of all branches of the state. 

Trending Now

2025 Gold Cup: Honduras Advances After Dramatic Shootout, Mexico Ends Goal Drought

Honduras, with a surprising and dramatic penalty shootout victory over Panama, and Mexico, with a lackluster win against Saudi Arabia, advanced Saturday to the...

Celso Gamboa Allegedly Ran Drug Ring with Costa Rican Government Ties

Celso Gamboa, once Costa Rica’s Security Minister and a Supreme Court judge, now faces extradition to the U.S. for leading a major cocaine trafficking...

Costa Rican Court Orders Release of Migrants Deported Under Trump Deal

A court on Tuesday ordered Costa Rican authorities to release foreign migrants who had been detained in a shelter after being deported under an...

Costa Rica’s Rare Birds at Risk as Human Activity Threatens Extinction

Costa Rica’s bare-necked umbrellabird, a striking black bird with a red throat pouch and crest, is in trouble. A new study in Nature Ecology...

U.S. – Guatemala Security Pact Targets Crime and Helps Returning Migrants

U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem signed a border security cooperation agreement with Guatemala on Thursday, which includes the use of drones and...

Hondurans March to Mark 2009 Coup as Election Battle Heats Up

Thousands of government supporters marched Saturday in the capital of Honduras to commemorate the anniversary of the 2009 coup that ousted then-leftist President Manuel...
spot_img
Costa Rica Tours
Costa Rica Coffee Maker Chorreador
Costa Rica Coffee Maker Chorreador
Costa Rica Travel Insurance
Costa Rica Rocking Chait
Costa Rica Travel

Latest News from Costa Rica