European Union Ambassador Bettina Muscheidt left Nicaragua on Saturday, just three days after being declared “persona non grata” by the government of President Daniel Ortega. Nicaraguan Foreign Minister Denis Moncada verbally notified Muscheidt that she should leave the country after the EU delegation demanded freedom for “political prisoners” at the United Nations General Assembly last week. Ortega’s government also announced on Friday that it was suspending diplomatic ties with the Netherlands. “The Netherlands regrets the disproportionate decision by Nicaragua to break off diplomatic relations,” Dutch Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra said via Twitter on Saturday. “We will discuss our next steps with the EU,” he added. (https://whtc.com/2022/10/01/eu-ambassador-leaves-nicaragua-in-week-of-diplomatic-tensions/) Nicaragua’s Vice President Rosario Murillo also announced this week that the Central American country would not accept the new U.S.-appointed ambassador Hugo Rodriguez as its representative in Managua. In March, Ortega’s government expelled the Vatican’s ambassador to Managua, Waldemar Sommertag.