Violeta Chamorro

She married in 1950 to Pedro Joaquín Chamorro and had five children with him. He was killed twenty eight years later, allegedly by a wealthy business man whom Chamorro had criticized in his newspaper ‘La Prensa’.

Her children have been divided politically, but she has been able to unite them as a family periodically.

She may be best known for helping establish democracy in Nicaragua and her work in steadying the peace between the formerly warring Contras and Sandinistas during her presidency.

Violeta Barrios Torres de Chamorro was born on October 18, 1929 in Rivas, Nicaragua into anaffluent family. She was one of seven children.

Early on, her parents enrolled her at private schools in Nicaragua and then, to assure she was receiving the best education and learning English, sent her to the United States where she attended ‘Our Lady of the Lake University’ in San Antonio, Texas, and then ‘Blackstone College for Girls’ in Virginia. Her education in the United States met an abrupt end when her father died and she returned to Nicaragua.

She witnessed a period of civil war and revolution in Nicaragua while growing up, and her family was active in the politics of the time. They were driven into exile in 1957 for a period of time.

Upon her husband Pedro Joaquín Chamorro's assassination, she took over his leading role at the newspaper ‘La Prensa’ in 1980 which was strongly against the then Nicaraguan leader Anastasio Somoza García.

She became a part of the ‘’Sandinista First Coalition Junta’ but due to conflicting views, left the organization and joined the opposition, ‘Contras’, which was being funded internationally at the time. During this time, ‘La Prensa’ was shut down.

In 1990, she was put up as a presidential candidate for the ‘National Opposition Union’. International support helped propel her to win office over Daniel Ortega.

The United States helped fund her campaign and infused a large amount of money into Nicaragua during her time in office. Her assumption of the presidential office ended 11 years of civil war.

She faced a number of challenges upon assuming office including a staggering inflation rate, widespread unemployment, divided political parties and high debt.

She ran the newspaper ‘La Prensa’ after her husband's assassination which was a major political publication during the Nicaraguan civil war.

She wrote her autobiography 'Dreams of the Heart: The Autobiography of President Violeta Barrios de Chamorro of Nicaragua' which detailed the adversities she faced as she ran for office.