The government of Nicaragua has announced its intention to sever diplomatic relations with Italy. The decision, communicated through an official letter of protest delivered overnight to the Italian embassy in Managua and subsequently forwarded to the Farnesina, follows statements made by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani during the European People's Party summit in Madrid.

Tajani had stated that Italy shares nothing with the vision of extremist governments like Nicaragua's, identifying the country as a place that provides protection to former Red Brigades members, specifically citing Alessio Casimirri. The minister subsequently reiterated in a statement that Italy will continue to request that Casimirri face Italian justice for the crimes of which he has been convicted, a demand already expressed through a European Parliament resolution.

Alessio Casimirri, born in Rome in 1951, was definitively sentenced to life imprisonment for the 1978 kidnapping of Aldo Moro. His role in the via Fani ambush was to block the escape route of the Christian Democracy president's cars with a vehicle. Casimirri has lived in Nicaragua for over forty years, where he obtained citizenship and runs restaurant businesses. Over the years, Italy has submitted multiple extradition requests, all rejected. One of the main obstacles is the Nicaraguan constitution, which prohibits the extradition of its own citizens.

The diplomatic crisis between Rome and Managua is part of a long-standing dispute linked to the Casimirri case, considered for years one of the main sources of friction between the two countries.