Brazil and Nicaragua have expelled each other’s ambassadors in a diplomatic row, while Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva appears to be reviewing his approach to relations with the EU. authoritarian left-wing rulers who were once seen as allies.
The twin expulsions this week came amid growing tensions between Lula and another supposedly progressive leader, Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela, whose re-election claim the Brazilian president has yet to recognize. Lula and his counterparts in Colombia and Mexico have called on Maduro to release the vote results from all polling stations to bolster his victory.
On Thursday, Brazil announced the expulsion of the Nicaraguan ambassador as an “application of the principle of reciprocity,” after Nicaragua decided to expel the Brazilian ambassador two weeks ago.
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Ambassador Breno de Souza da Costa is said to have refused, at the behest of the Brazilian government, to attend an event marking the 45th anniversary of the Sandinista Revolution, when left-wing revolutionaries overthrew then-dictator Anastasio Somoza.
Nicaragua’s President Daniel Ortega played a key role in that revolution, but in recent years he has also been responsible for an increasingly harsh crackdown on dissenters. He has jailed dozens of opposition leaders, including former comrades in arms, and forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee the country.
Nicaraguan envoy Fulvia Patricia Castro had been in office for only three months when she was expelled on Thursday. She was appointed the new minister of the household by Nicaragua’s vice president and Ortega’s wife, Rosario Murillo, the same day.
According to the Brazilian newspaper O Globo, Brazilian diplomats see Lula’s attitude as a strategic move to debunk accusations that he was being lenient with Maduro in Venezuela.
While Brazil opposes recognizing Maduro’s alleged victory, Lula has faced criticism, especially from the right, for not following the lead of the US, Argentina and other countries. recognizing the opposition candidate Edmundo González as the rightful president of Venezuela.
Feliciano de Sá Guimarães, an associate professor of international relations at the University of São Paulo, said Lula’s changing attitude toward Ortega and Maduro reflected the domestic political costs of being seen as a prop for two “dictatorships.”
“It is an adjustment of attitude, not a change of attitude. It is more about the high domestic costs of being seen close to regimes that are rejected by the Brazilian population,” Guimarães said.
Relations between Lula and Ortega, once allies, have been deteriorating for at least a year.
Last year, the Brazilian president responded to a request from Pope Francis and tried to intervene for the release of Bishop Rolando José Álvarez, a critic of Ortega’s authoritarian regime, who was jailed on charges of “conspiracy to undermine national integrity and spreading false news.”
The Catholic leader was eventually released in January after more than 500 days in prison, but was forced to leave the country.
In July, Lula said he had been ignored by Ortega: “The fact is that Daniel Ortega did not answer my call and did not want to talk to me. So I never spoke to him again, never again,” he said at a press conference.
