Nicaragua's government decided on Wednesday to close its embassy in the Dominican Republic, deepening a diplomatic rift between the two Central American nations that began after President Daniel Ortega announced a constitutional reform effectively banning opposition candidates from elections.
The dispute had already prompted the Dominican government to recall its ambassador from Managua for consultations on July 23. Since then a chargé d'affaires has led the Dominican diplomatic mission in Nicaragua, and the same arrangement had been in place at the Nicaraguan embassy in Santo Domingo.
The Dominican Republic's foreign ministry said in a statement released this week that it had noted the Nicaraguan government's decision to close its embassy in Santo Domingo.
The embassy closure was announced just days after Nicaragua's parliament adopted the constitutional revision barring opposition members from taking part in elections.
The constitutional reform behind the rift
The dispute between the two countries began in July, when Ortega's government first announced it would push through the reform. The change extends the presidential term from six years to seven and bars from elections anyone who took part in what it calls attempted coups, anyone found guilty of "treason against the homeland," or anyone who requested or backed foreign military intervention.
The measure appears designed to secure the succession of power, possibly to relatives of Ortega, the octogenarian former leader of the Sandinista rebel movement, and his wife and co-president, Rosario Murillo. Ortega led the Sandinista revolution that toppled Nicaragua's Somoza dictatorship in 1979 and has governed the country almost continuously since returning to the presidency in 2007, with Murillo serving alongside him as co-president.
Dominican Republic's wider diplomatic tensions
The government of President Luis Abinader, a right-wing ally of US President Donald Trump, is also locked in a separate diplomatic dispute with Cuba. In mid-August, the Dominican Republic expelled nine employees of the Cuban embassy in Santo Domingo along with their families, without publicly explaining its reasons.
Abinader has led the Dominican Republic since 2020. The Dominican capital, Santo Domingo, hosts the diplomatic missions at the center of both standoffs.
