Nicaragua cut diplomatic relations with Italy on July 16, the government of President Daniel Ortega said, after Rome renewed calls for the extradition of a former Red Brigades militant convicted over the 1978 kidnapping and murder of Italian former prime minister Aldo Moro.

In a statement, Nicaragua's government said it was responding to "unjustified, aggressive and irresponsible statements" by Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, adding that it was "breaking off all diplomatic relations with the Government of Italy."

The move followed remarks by Tajani at a European People's Party summit in Madrid, where he said Italy "shares nothing with the vision of extremist governments like that of Nicaragua," accusing Managua of sheltering "dangerous terrorists from the Red Brigades" including Alessio Casimirri, according to Open, an Italian news outlet.

The Italian embassy in Managua received a formal letter of protest overnight, which was forwarded to Italy's foreign ministry, the Farnesina, Corriere della Sera reported citing sources with knowledge of the matter.

Tajani said in a statement on July 16 that Italy would keep pressing for Casimirri to face justice. "Italy will continue to demand that Casimirri be held accountable before the Italian justice system for the crimes of which he has been found guilty, as has already been requested in a resolution of the European Parliament," he said, adding that Rome would defend the request "with determination" out of respect for the victims of terrorism.

Italy's foreign ministry said in a separate statement, cited by EFE, that Rome "does not forget the victims of terrorism" and would continue to demand accountability from those responsible for serious crimes against the Italian state, including Casimirri, whom it described as continuing to receive asylum in Nicaragua.

Casimirri, 74, was a member of the Red Brigades, a far-left armed group behind numerous attacks during Italy's "Years of Lead," a period of political violence in the 1970s and 1980s. He used the nom de guerre "Camillo" after joining the group in 1977, having previously been active in the Potere Operaio movement, according to Open.

Born in Rome in 1951 to Luciano Casimirri, who served as head of the Vatican press office under three popes from Pius XII to Paul VI, Casimirri took part in the commando operation that ambushed Moro's security detail on Via Fani in Rome, killing five officers, according to EFE. Moro, leader of the Christian Democrats and a former prime minister, was held captive for about six weeks before being killed in May 1978.

Italian courts handed Casimirri six life sentences over the Moro case and related Red Brigades killings. He fled Italy in the early 1980s and settled in Nicaragua in 1983, where he obtained citizenship and later built a restaurant business in Managua.

Italy has submitted repeated extradition requests over the decades, all of which the Ortega regime has rejected or left unanswered, citing constitutional protections against the extradition of Nicaraguan nationals, according to Open. The dispute has long been a point of friction between the two countries.

The severing of ties leaves the future of bilateral cooperation between Rome and Managua uncertain, with Italy signalling it has no plans to drop its demand for Casimirri's extradition.