Brazil and Nicaragua expel ambassadors in leftist run-in

By Lisandra Paraguassu

BRASILIA (Reuters) -Brazil and Nicaragua expelled each other's ambassadors on Thursday in a tit-for-tat retaliation as relations deteriorated between two formerly allied leftist governments.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva decided to expel Nicaragua's ambassador in Brasilia after Daniel Ortega's government ordered Brazil's envoy in Managua to leave the country, Lula's chief of staff said.

The spat confirms declining relations between Brazil's Lula and some of the other Latin American left-wing governments that have increased with division over Venezuela's contested presidential election. Lula has criticized the Venezuelan government for not releasing the vote tallies.

"In diplomacy there is reciprocity," Chief of Staff Rui Costa told reporters. "As the Brazilian ambassador there was asked to leave the country, reciprocity in this case means that the ambassador here also left."

He said Brazil wants peace and good relations with everyone, but cannot accept its ambassadors being harassed.

Nicaraguan diplomat Patricia Castro Matus was told to leave Brazil because her government expelled Brazilian Ambassador Breno de Souza da Costa after threats to do so three weeks ago, according to a Brazilian official.

Nicaraguan Vice-President Rosario Murillo later confirmed that Brazil's ambassador had left the capital Managua earlier that day and the Nicaraguan diplomat in Brazil would return for a post in the Central American nation's economy ministry.

Last month, Brazil's ambassador angered the Nicaragua government by not attending celebrations of the 45th anniversary of the Sandinista revolution, leading to threats of expulsion and diplomatic rupture, which is now expected to happen.

Relations between Brazil and Nicaragua have been deteriorating since Lula tried to broker the release from jail of Catholic bishop and vocal Ortega critic Rolando Jose Alvarez last year at the request of Pope Francis.

Lula told foreign reporters recently that he had tried to call Ortega last year, after the pope asked him to intervene, but the Nicaragua president did not accept the call.

Since then, Brazil's foreign ministry has kept relations with Nicaragua at a bare minimum, only to deal with the needs of Brazilian citizens in Managua.

(Reporting by Lisandra Paraguassu in Brasilia and Ismael Lopez in San Jose; Writing by Anthony Boadle; Editing by Sandra Maler)