Nicaragua announced on Thursday the immediate severance of diplomatic relations with Italy, a rupture triggered by Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani’s renewed call for the extradition of Alessio Casimirri, a former member of the Red Brigades convicted of the 1978 kidnapping and murder of former Italian prime minister Aldo Moro. The Nicaraguan government issued a statement describing Tajani’s remarks at a European People’s Party summit in Madrid as “unjustified, aggressive and irresponsible,” and said they insulted the Nicaraguan people and government “with European arrogance.” The Italian embassy in Managua received an official protest letter overnight, and Managua confirmed it would now “proceed to ensure the necessary processes” to implement the break.

Viewed from Rome, the demand for Casimirri’s surrender is a matter of legal and moral obligation. The Italian foreign ministry stressed that Italy “does not forget the victims of terrorism” and will continue to insist that Casimirri answer for crimes for which he has been definitively sentenced to multiple life terms. Tajani pointed to a European Parliament resolution backing the extradition request and framed Italy’s stance as consistent with the defence of justice and democratic values. Italian officials maintain that the Nicaraguan government’s refusal to hand over a convicted terrorist constitutes a long-standing violation of international cooperation norms.

From Managua’s perspective, the break is presented as an assertion of national sovereignty and dignity in the face of what it considers an unacceptable infringement. The Nicaraguan constitution prohibits the extradition of its citizens, a legal barrier that has blocked all previous Italian requests since Casimirri acquired Nicaraguan nationality after fleeing there in the early 1980s. The Ortega government’s communiqué lamented that the “ignoble” episode contrasted with historically respectful relations with Italy, but insisted the rupture was a “forceful expression” of sovereignty. The move severs a diplomatic channel that had already been strained by Western criticism of the Ortega administration’s democratic record, though the immediate trigger remains the Casimirri case.

Casimirri, now 74, was a member of the Red Brigades commando that ambushed Moro’s convoy on Via Fani in Rome, killing five bodyguards and abducting the former prime minister, who was later murdered. Under the nom de guerre “Camillo,” he blocked the escape route with a car, enabling the attack. Convicted in absentia to six life sentences, he fled Italy via Libya and Cuba before settling in Nicaragua, where he has run restaurant businesses for decades. The extradition dossier has been a persistent irritant in bilateral relations, and with diplomatic ties now formally broken, the prospect of his transfer to Italian custody recedes further. Italy has indicated it will continue to press the demand through multilateral forums, but no new bilateral mechanism remains available.