The State Department ordered the return to Washington this Tuesday of the U.S. chargé d'affaires in Nicaragua, Elias Baumann, for what spokesperson Tommy Pigott described as "critical consultations," in direct response to the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo's rejection of the ambassador designated by Washington.
According to the official statement from the Department of State, the measure was taken by direct instruction from Secretary of State Marco Rubio following Nicaragua's refusal to grant diplomatic approval to Natasha Franceschi, who had been nominated by President Donald Trump in August and confirmed by the Senate by unanimous consent on September 30.
The endorsement is the prior approval that the receiving State must grant to the candidate proposed by another country; without it, the designated ambassador cannot assume the position even if he has the support of his own Senate.
Pigott described Ortega and Murillo's decision as a demonstration of "total unwillingness to engage in a productive diplomatic dialogue" and accused the ruling couple of hypocrisy.
"The rejection of ambassador-designate Natasha Franceschi, a highly qualified career diplomat, by Ortega and Murillo demonstrates the hypocrisy of their rhetoric on mutual respect and their desire to stage political theater at the expense of the Nicaraguan people," she noted.
Franceschi has approximately 25 years of experience in the U.S. Foreign Service, holding the rank of minister counselor within the Senior Foreign Service, and has served in Tunisia, Slovakia, Iraq, and at the headquarters of the Department of State.
The statement does not announce a break in diplomatic relations, the closure of the embassy, the expulsion of officials, additional sanctions, or changes in consular services, nor does it specify a date for Baumann's return to Managua.
This is Nicaragua's second rejection of a U.S. ambassadorial candidate: in July 2022, Managua withdrew the approval initially granted to Hugo Rodríguez, who was appointed by then-President Joe Biden, leaving the mission without a head since 2023.
The episode occurs at a time of accelerated deterioration in bilateral relations. In April 2026, Washington sanctioned the children of Ortega and Murillo and mining companies linked to the government. In June, Rubio called the regime a "enemy of humanity" and announced entry restrictions for more than 100 officials and their families.
The rejection of the approval for Franceschi was publicly revealed on October 2 during the extraordinary meeting of OAS foreign ministers convened to discuss the Nicaraguan political crisis, which Managua did not attend due to its withdrawal from the organization in 2023.
Days before Baumann's consultation call on October 9, the European Union extended its targeted sanctions against Nicaragua until October 2027, in a coordinated show of pressure from both sides of the Atlantic on the Ortega and Murillo regime.
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