SÃO PAULO, Brazil – Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega and his Brazilian counterpart Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva cut the diplomatic ties between the two countries with the mutual expulsion of their ambassadors to Managua and Brasilia, carried out over the past two days.

Long-time allies who take part in international left-wing organizations like the São Paulo Forum – that gather Latin American progressive and socialist parties – Ortega and Lula had been freezing the relations between their nations over the past few months, after the Nicaraguan leader refused to talk to the Brazilian president about the persecution of priests in the Central American state.

According to a story published in April by Brazilian newspaper O Globo, Pope Francis and other high-ranking Church officials like Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s Secretary of State, had been asking Lula to mediate the crisis with Ortega. The subject was discussed during Lula’s visit to Rome in June of 2023, and on other occasions through phone calls and letters.

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This gained special relevance after Bishop Rolando Alvarez of Matagalpa was detained in August of 2022. He was kept under custody with no charges for over 100 days, until he was formally accused of conspiracy and remained in prison until January of 2024, when he and other clergy members were released and sent to the Vatican.

Alvarez, like other priests and bishops, publicly criticized the government’s wrongdoings. He condemned Ortega’s regime for the brutal repression during the 2018 wave of protests, when thousands of Nicaraguans – many of them young – took to the streets and staged large demonstrations against the Sandinista administration.

During Alvarez’s time in prison, Lula attempted to discuss the issue with Ortega, apparently during a visit of Parolin to Brazil. But the Nicaraguan leader did not even answer the phone. The Brazilian leader then ordered the ambassador in Managua to avoid taking part in several public events, including the July 18 Sandinista Revolution. Ortega allegedly became enraged with the Brazilian diplomat’s attitude and then decided to expel him.

“The concrete fact is that Daniel Ortega didn’t answer the phone and didn’t want to talk to me. So, I have never talked to him again, never,” Lula told reporters during a press conference in July.

The decision of the Nicaraguan regime came to light on Aug. 7, but the Brazilian government had been alerted of the ambassador’s expulsion two weeks ago. Brasilia made it clear to Nicaragua that consequences would follow that measure.

On Aug. 8, the Brazilian government announced that Nicaragua’s ambassador would also be expelled from the country.

According to Enrique Saenz, a Nicaraguan economist and political analyst who lives in exile in Costa Rica, when Ortega came back to power in 2007, he established new relations with several institutions, including the Church, and apparently distanced himself from his more radical stances of the years that followed the Sandinista Revolution in the 1980s.

“He had invited Cardinal Miguel Obando y Bravo, with whom he had bad relations decades before, to celebrate his wedding with Rosario Murillo [in 2005],” Saenz told Crux.

Despite the superficial changes, the relations between his government and the Church progressively deteriorated over the years. In 2018, when many in the Church joined the anti-Sandinista demonstrations or criticized the State repression, Ortega began to target the clergy once again, Saenz said.

“He never forgave the bishops and priests who criticized him in 2018. Since then, he has been looking for revenge against the institution as a whole,” he added.

Only in 2023, 151 priests and 76 sisters were expelled from the country – and the number continues to grow.

According to Saenz, many of Ortega’s actions at this point involve not only political strategy or an obsession for power, but also pathological traits.

“In the case of many priests, there’s a clear sadistic element in the way he has been looking to punish them. That was the case with Bishop Alvarez, who refused to get into a plane to leave Nicaragua,” Saenz said, adding that Ortega’s reaction was explosive, and one could see that a harsh punishment would follow.

Ortega’s paranoia, in his opinion, is behind the prohibition of public religious events, like processions.

Saenz says another reason for Ortega’s rupture with Lula was Brazil’s stance on the July 28 Venezuelan elections. While Lula hasn’t joined the group of Latin American presidents who are directly challenging leader Nicolas Maduro’s victory, he has been putting pressure on the Chavista administration to release the electoral registers and to negotiate with the opposition.

“Ortega thought that every left-wing government should always back him. He also wants to appear as someone who is defending Maduro,” Saenz said.