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The expulsion of Spain’s ambassador to Nicaragua, Sergio Farré Salvá, on January 25, 2026, marks the latest episode in the diplomatic instability that characterizes the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo, highlighting its growing confrontation with the international community. The government has accumulated at least nine diplomatic crises in less than five years, deepening the country’s isolation.
Critical comments, participation in meetings, or even absence from a state–party event have been the “justifications” used by Ortega and Murillo to expel ambassadors, suspend relations, or sever diplomatic ties with other countries, progressively isolating Nicaragua from the international community.
This strategy of confrontation, which has resulted in the expulsion of several ambassadors, has intensified over the last four years. During that period, the Nicaraguan regime has clashed directly with:
- Vatican City
- European Union
- The Netherlands
- Colombia
- Spain
- United States
- Brazil
- Ecuador
- Taiwan
The diplomatic clash with Spain
Diplomatic tensions between Nicaragua and Spain began in June 2021, following the illegal detention of opposition leaders in the context of the November elections that year, in which Ortega secured reelection without political competition. Spain responded on several occasions with strong protests.
In August 2021, Spain’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs recalled its then-ambassador in Managua, María del Mar Fernández-Palacios, for consultations, after a note from the Nicaraguan government accused Spain of “interference in internal affairs” and of covering up “hate crimes and crimes against humanity” during Catalonia’s independence bid.
When Ambassador Fernández-Palacios attempted to return to Nicaragua in March 2022, the Ortega regime did not allow her to enter. This prompted the Spanish government to demand an explanation from Nicaragua’s then-ambassador, Carlos Antonio Midence. Instead, the regime chose to withdraw its ambassador from Madrid, alleging supposed “interference, pressure, and threats” against the Nicaraguan diplomat.
Spain later appointed a new ambassador, Pilar Terrén Lalana, who presented her credentials in Managua in February 2023. Meanwhile, on the Nicaraguan side, Maurizio Alberto Gelli was appointed ambassador in Madrid in May of that year, suggesting an apparent normalization of bilateral relations.
However, the dictatorship broke that apparent “normality” on January 25, 2026, by expelling Ambassador Farré Salvá and his deputy, Minister-Counselor Miguel Mahiques Núñez. Both diplomats were expelled one day after meeting in Managua with a group of eight aid workers representing various development projects, who were also expelled from the country.
The Spanish government ordered the expulsion of Nicaragua’s ambassador in Madrid in “strict reciprocity” for the “unjust expulsion” of its ambassador in Managua and Spain’s deputy head of mission in Nicaragua.
Expulsion of European Union and Brazilian ambassadors
In September 2022, the regime expelled the European Union (EU) ambassador to Nicaragua, Bettina Muscheidt. In response, the bloc expelled Nicaragua’s representative to the EU, Zoila Müller.
In April 2023, the EU appointed a new ambassador to Nicaragua, Fernando Ponz Cantó, but the regime withdrew the agrément it had previously granted him. Eight months after the mutual expulsion of ambassadors, the regime eventually restored agrément to Ponz Cantó and appointed César Augusto Castañeda Lacayo as its new ambassador to the EU.
The lull in the regime’s diplomatic relations lasted less than a year. In August 2024, the regime unexpectedly expelled Brazil’s ambassador to Nicaragua, Breno de Souza Brasil Días da Costa, for failing to attend the celebration marking the 45th anniversary of the Sandinista Revolution. In response, the Brazilian government expelled Nicaragua’s ambassador, Fulvia Castro Matus.
Despite the breakdown in high-level representation, consular services have remained in place, preventing a complete formal rupture.
Withdrawal of credentials from Colombia, the United States, and the Vatican
Other diplomatic missions that have clashed with the Nicaraguan dictatorship include Colombia, the United States, and the Holy See, in 2022.
In February 2022, the regime withdrew the credentials of Colombia’s ambassador to Nicaragua, Alfredo Rangel Suárez, hours after the Colombian government ordered its diplomat to return home following Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega’s accusation that the administration of Iván Duque was a “narco-state.” Months later, diplomatic relations were normalized with the change of government in Colombia.
The dictatorship also denied, in August 2022, the agrément it had granted to the U.S. ambassador to Managua, Hugo Rodríguez, who never even set foot in Nicaraguan territory. Since then, the embassy has been led by chargés d’affaires: Kevin O’Reilly in 2023 and Elias Baumann in 2026.
At the beginning of March 2022, the dictatorship expelled the apostolic nuncio, Monsignor Waldemar Stanislaw Sommertag, from Nicaragua. This fact increased the hostility, persecution and harassment against the Catholic Church in the country. Finally, the dictatorship ordered the suspension of diplomatic relations with the Holy See in March 2023, after the publication of an interview in which Pope Francis described the Nicaraguan government as a “Hitlerian dictatorship”.
Ruptures with Ecuador, the Netherlands, and Taiwan
The confrontation of the regime with the international community has also led to the rupture of relations with cooperating countries. In April 2024, the dictatorship confirmed the rupture of diplomatic relations with Ecuador, after the Ecuadorian Police broke into the Mexican Embassy in Quito on April 5, 2024, to capture the political asylum seeker and former vice president of that country, Jorge Glas.
The rupture with Ecuador was carried out in “support and solidarity” with the Mexican government, then led by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who thanked Nicaragua for doing so “without being asked… because decency requires it, and we will continue,” he said at a press conference on April 8.
Ortega and Murillo also broke diplomatic relations with the Netherlands during the 43rd anniversary of the police force in September 2022. The dictator said the reason was that the Netherlands would not finance a medical care center on the Caribbean Coast, which he described as an act of “human misery” against the country.
The Netherlands denied funding due to lack of transparency in the project, improper handling of funds, and the ongoing human rights violations against Nicaraguans. Hours after Ortega’s remarks, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed the decision to “immediately discontinue diplomatic relations” with the Netherlands, which the regime labels “pro-imperialist.”
The regime also broke diplomatic relations with Taiwan in December 2021. The Asian country was one of its main cooperators, however, it turned its back on Taiwan to recognize China as the “only legitimate government”.
This was the second time that an Ortega government broke off relations with Taiwan. The first was in 1985, during his first term in office.
