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Nicaragua looks to be closing down diplomatic ties with the Vatican after the Pope likened the embattled country to a dictatorship.
Nicaragua closes diplomatic links to Vatican
Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega has ordered the closure of the Vatican Embassy in Managua and that of the Nicaraguan Embassy to the Vatican in Rome, a senior Vatican source says.
Nicaragua signalled that Sunday’s move, which came a few days after Pope Francis compared the Nicaraguan government to a dictatorship, was “a suspension” of diplomatic relations.
The Vatican source said that while the closures do not automatically mean a total break of relations between Managua and the Holy See, they are serious steps towards that possibility.
Ortega’s administration has been increasingly isolated internationally since he began cracking down heavily on dissent following street protests that erupted in 2018. Ortega called the protests an attempted coup against his government.
