BOGOTA, Colombia

Nicaragua announced on Monday the withdrawal of its ambassador to Argentina, Carlos Midence, after "repeated statements" by the Argentine president-elect, Javier Milei, against the government of Daniel Ortega.

"Given the installation and inauguration of a new Government in the Argentine Republic, an inauguration that will take place on December 10, and in the face of repeated declarations and expressions of the new leaders, the Government of Reconciliation and National Unity of Nicaragua has proceeded to withdraw his ambassador, fellow writer and communicator, Carlos Midence," said the Nicaraguan Foreign Minister, Denis Moncada, in a statement released by local government media.

"The withdrawal is effective immediately," it said.

Milei did not invite presidents Daniel Ortega from Nicaragua, Miguel Díaz-Canel from Cuba, Nicolás Maduro from Venezuela and Ebrahim Raisi from Iran to the official investiture ceremony, scheduled for Dec. 10.

Milei has said that he will not promote "relations with communists, including Cuba, Venezuela, North Korea, Nicaragua or with China."

On Nov. 20, the government of Nicaragua congratulated Milei on his victory, and the Argentine people "for their exemplary and peaceful electoral day" but the good relations did not last long after the announcement that the president of the Central American country would not be invited to the inauguration of the right-wing president.

The ties between Ortega and outgoing Argentinian President Alberto Fernandez also went through rough moments.

In August 2021, Managua recalled its ambassador in Buenos Aires after Fernandez criticized the arrest of Ortega's rival candidates in the elections in which Nicaragua's president was re-elected.​​​​​​​