The confirmation of the expulsion of the apostolic nuncio Monsignor Waldemar Stanislaw Sommertag in a statement issued by the Vatican this Saturday “seriously breaks relations” between the Holy See and the Government, but also says a lot about his “authoritarian drift”, values a former diplomat , who requested that his identity be preserved. He added that as long as the Daniel Ortega regime remains closed to any type of dialogue, it makes no sense for the Vatican to send another representative.
The Vatican assured that it received “with surprise and pain the communication that the Government of Nicaragua has decided to withdraw the approval (agrement) to His Eminence Monsignor Waldemar Stanislaw Sommertag, Apostolic Nuncio in Managua since 2018, forcing him to immediately leave the country after notifying him of that measure,” the letter reads.
The agrement it occurs before the representative’s accreditation as ambassador and what occurs once accepted and accredited is a declaration of non grata, explained the former diplomat. However, the Ortega regime limited itself to expelling him de facto.
The nuncio left the country on the night of March 6 without saying goodbye to the Episcopal Conference of Nicaragua and the diplomatic corps. The Vatican described the measure taken by the Ortega regime as a “serious and unjustified unilateral decision”, “which reaffirms the character of expulsion, which is generally a previous step to a rupture of diplomatic relations,” said the source consulted. When situations of this type occur, it implies a “depth assessment of relations-between countries,” and that takes time, he added.
Ortega digs his international isolation
The move of the regime with respect to the representative of the Holy See is not an isolated event, but corresponds to a “policy of zero tolerance with the international community, in its efforts to achieve the release of political prisoners and a peaceful solution to the general crisis of the country.
It is “a policy that seeks to frighten the countries and their diplomatic representatives, but that produces a totally opposite effect, of rejection and reaffirmation of the unjust and arbitrary nature of the sentences and a greater isolation of the dictatorship,” the diplomatic source stressed.
The Ortega regime has described the calls of the international community to resolve the country’s crisis as “interference” and has ignored the resolutions of the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States so that the country returns to the path of democracy and respect for Rule of law. Instead, it continues to isolate itself internationally.
Recent diplomatic clashes
This Thursday, March 10, Nicaragua removed ambassador Carlos Antonio Midence from his duties, in Spain, under the argument of alleged “interfering pressures and threats”.
The action occurred after Midence was summoned by the Secretary of State for Ibero-America and the Caribbean and Spanish in the World, Juan Fernández Trigo, to express his discomfort at the refusal of the Ortega Government to allow the Spanish ambassador to return to Nicaragua. María del Mar Fernández-Palacios, who was called for consultation by her government on August 11.
Also, this month, the regime withdrew the credentials of the Colombian ambassador in Nicaragua, Alfredo Rangel Suarez. The measure occurred hours after the Colombian government ordered its diplomatic representative to return to the country after the Nicaraguan president accused the administration of Iván Duque of being a “narco-state.”
Both Colombia and Spain have questioned the human rights violations by the Ortega regime, as well as the persecution of the opposition and the imprisonment of its main leaders.
In the Vatican statement, they recognize the participation of Monsignor Sommertag as a witness and companion of the National Dialogue Table between the Government and the political opposition, in seeking to achieve national reconciliation and the release of political prisoners.
“That this has happened with the Vatican is especially delicate, due to the strictly humanitarian nature of the efforts and because it is the representative of Pope Francis,” said the diplomatic source.
Indeed, after the Vatican confirmed the expulsion of the nuncio, the Nicaraguan University Alliance (AUN) thanked him for his “diplomatic and pastoral” work.
They recalled that in 2021, thanks to the efforts of Monsignor Waldemar Stanislaw Sommertag, they delivered hygiene items, food and drinks to political prisoners and “constant calls were made to allow family visits and their fair release,” read a statement. .
On November 18, 2021, the Government of Nicaragua annulled by decree the figure of “dean of the diplomatic corps”, which since 2000 corresponded to the apostolic nuncio, representative of the Holy See.
