The ambassador of the European Union (EU) left Nicaragua on Saturday after being declared non grata by the Government of President Daniel Ortega, in a week of tensions with the international community in which she broke diplomatic relations with the Netherlands and rejected the new ambassador of the United States.
Nicaraguan Foreign Minister Denis Moncada verbally notified Ambassador Bettina Muscheidt that she should leave the country after the EU delegation last week demanded freedom for “political prisoners” at the United Nations General Assembly.
On Friday night, the Nicaraguan government announced the rupture of diplomatic relations with the Kingdom of the Netherlands, after a speech by Ortega where he accused the European country of interference.
“The Netherlands deplores Nicaragua’s disproportionate decision to break diplomatic relations. Of course, we talk about human rights violations and the deterioration of democracy when there are reasons to do so. But a conversation about it is always better than cutting ties,” Dutch Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra said on his Twitter account.
“Other countries are also noticing that it is difficult to maintain a dialogue with Nicaragua. Therefore, we are discussing the next steps with the EU,” the Dutch official said.
The Netherlands closed its embassy in Nicaragua on December 31, 2012 and since then its headquarters in Costa Rica took over matters.
Nicaraguan Vice President Rosario Murillo also announced that Managua would not accept the new U.S.-appointed ambassador, Hugo Rodriguez, as its representative in the Central American country.
Earlier this year, Ortega’s government also expelled the Vatican’s ambassador in Managua Waldemar Stanislaw Sommertag.
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