Ice Age between Nicaragua and Vatican

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Relationship drama between Managua and the Holy See. The media reports that diplomatic relations have been broken off. But neither the Vatican nor the government in Nicaragua want it to be interpreted that way.

Critics of President Ortega pray in the Cathedral of Managua for the release of Bishop Rolando Alvarez

“The Holy See never leaves. It will be thrown out,” said the Pope a few months ago in an interview with the Spanish daily ABC. With regard to Nicaragua, one could certainly speak of such an expulsion of the church from the Central American country.

On Monday, Vatican News, the Vatican's news portal, confirmed the Nicaraguan government's desire to “suspend diplomatic relations.” Specifically, it would be about the closure of the papal nunciature, the diplomatic representation of the Vatican in Managua. 

Prelate has to leave the country

A year ago, on March 12, 2022, the government in Nicaragua expelled the Apostolic Nuncio in Managua, Archbishop Waldemar Stanisław Sommertag. Since then, the nunciature's secretary, Prelate Mbaye Diouf, has continued to run the business. Diouf was apparently given a week to leave the country.

Nicaragua, on the other hand, has not had an ambassador to the Apostolic See since September 2021. The representative of the government of Nicaragua is Minister Yara Suhyén Pérez Calero.

President Daniel Ortega does not tolerate opposition – Pope Francis compared his regime to the “Hitler dictatorship”

Strictly speaking, however, this development does not mark a break in relations, explains Ludwig Ring-Eifel, head of the Centrum Informationis Catholicum, joint editorial office of the German-speaking Catholic news agencies in Rome, in an interview with DW.

Termination or suspension?< /h2>

“The Vatican has made it clear that from its point of view it is not a question of a complete severing of diplomatic relations, but rather a suspension or temporary termination of diplomatic relations. A further level of escalation would then be possible, namely the formal and final one Demolition,” says the German Vatican expert. 

Ring-Eifel admits, however, that you have to look far back in history to come across a similar case: “Even after the revolution in Cuba continued to have diplomatic relations between Rome and Havana, although most of the staff there was also expelled from the country”.

In fact, however, international law knows no “suspension” or “suspension” of diplomatic relations. Either they exist or they don't.

“These are just puns,” Enrique Sáenz, a Nicaraguan economist and political analyst living in exile in Costa Rica, told DW. Although there was no formal communication at the diplomatic level, relations were severed at the practical political level, according to Sáenz.

Estrangement since 2018

Relations between the Church and the Nicaraguan government have steadily deteriorated since 2018. At that time, the authorities used extreme violence against nationwide protests.

In 2022, Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes was still leading processions – this year they are forbidden

The church sheltered many demonstrators in its places of worship and later acted as a mediator between the regime and the opposition. However, ruler Daniel Ortega increasingly branded church officials as sympathizers of the opposition and as “terrorists” trying to overthrow him. 

“Ortega has increased the pressure and has continued to harass the church. The authorities have The church even banned this year from holding the traditional Crusade processions during Lent and Holy Week.”Ortega's behavior already has pathological traits,” says Sáenz. 

“Mental imbalance”

< p>The final break came when the Catholic Bishop Rolando Alvarez was sentenced to 26 years in prison in February of this year for “conspiracy and spreading false news”. This was followed in early March by the Pope's interview with the Argentine portal Infobae.

Sentenced to 26 years in prison: The Catholic Bishop Rolando Alvarez from the Diocese of Matagalpa

In the interview, Francis confirmed Ortega's “mental imbalance”. He also compared the Ortega regime in Nicaragua to the “communist dictatorship of 1917 or the Hitler dictatorship of 1935”.

“The pope certainly contributed to the escalation,” admits the head of the Centrum Informationis Catholicum in Rome, Ludwig Ring-Eifel, too. The situation is muddled and needs to cool down, according to Vatican observers. Ultimately, the time factor plays an important role, and experience has shown that the Vatican has the staying power.