Latest news with #VioletaChamorro
The Guardian
8 hours ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
Violeta Chamorro obituary
Like her political contemporary Corazon Aquino in the Philippines, Violeta Chamorro, who has died aged 95, was thrust into the limelight in Nicaragua – and ultimately, in 1990, to the presidency – because a dictator murdered her husband. He was Pedro Joaquín Chamorro, publisher of the family newspaper La Prensa, and for many years a serious irritant to the Somoza dictatorship that ruled in Nicaragua from 1936. After the assassination of Anastasio Somoza García in 1956, Pedro Joaquín was arrested on charges of rebellion and sent into internal exile. Never one for quiet acceptance of his fate, he escaped with Violeta to neighbouring Costa Rica. From there he organised a rebel force that in 1959 attempted to overthrow Anastasio's son Luis, who had succeeded as president. The attempt failed, and Pedro Joaquín was sentenced to a nine-year jail term. On his release, he went back to editing La Prensa. By the late 1960s, Anastasio Jr (also known as Tachito) had taken over from his brother Luis, but the situation in Nicaragua had deteriorated still further. In 1975, Tachito suspended civil rights. Pedro Joaquín not only campaigned against him through La Prensa, but he also took on a political role as head of the Democratic Liberation Union (Udel). Tachito had had enough. In January 1978, he sent his gunmen to machine-gun Pedro Joaquín to death on his way to work. The murder provoked a national uprising which led, the following year, to the overthrow by the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) of the 40-year-old dictatorship. As Pedro Joaquín's widow, Violeta Chamorro took over the newspaper. With it, she inherited an uncomfortable role as one of the principal leaders of the visible opposition. When the Sandinistas swept to power in July 1979, she became a member of the first, five-member transitional junta that controlled Nicaragua until the election of Daniel Ortega as president in 1984. But her conservative politics soon caused a split with the predominantly Marxist FSLN. Once more she was in opposition. As the rebellion mounted by the US-backed contra rebels grew stronger, the Sandinista government grew correspondingly less tolerant. La Prensa, accused of receiving CIA funds to destabilise the government, was again subjected to censorship. For a year it was closed down altogether. Like many Nicaraguan families, the Chamorros themselves were deeply divided. Of Violeta's four children, two were pro-Sandinista and two anti. Carlos Fernando edited the FSLN daily Barricada, and his sister Claudia was a Sandinista diplomat. Cristiana remained at La Prensa, while Pedro Joaquín Jr became a member of the contra leadership. The country's other main paper, the independent but pro-government Nuevo Diario, was edited by their uncle, Xavier. In the 1990 general election, held against a background of war, the FSLN faced a heterogeneous coalition of anti-Sandinista forces, ranging from communists to the far right. Known as the UNO, this shaky front needed a candidate capable of ousting Ortega — and the only viable option was Violeta Chamorro, who had little genuine political experience. One of the seven children of Amalia Torres and Carlos Barrios Sacasa, she was born into a well-to-do farming family in the southern town of Rivas. Sent as a teenager to a Catholic girls' school in the US before her marriage in 1950 to Pedro Joaquín Chamorro, she had acquired a knowledge of English and a certain grasp of world affairs. But perhaps her principal asset at the time of the 1990 election – leaving aside support from Washington – was her grandmotherly demeanour and apparent absence of guile. Much to the astonishment of most observers — not least the Sandinistas themselves – she beat Ortega handsomely and became the first elected female president in Latin American history. It was an unenviable job. More than a decade of war, coming on top of dictatorship, had wrecked what little infrastructure existed and reduced living standards in Nicaragua to the levels of the 30s. Forty per cent of the workforce was unemployed and there was a huge foreign debt. Inflation stood at more than 13,000%. Chamorro faced a hostile, mainly pro-FSLN, union movement, which staged a series of strikes, and a huge contra force, sceptical of her intentions. The Sandinista leaders used the transition period to transfer large amounts of state property into their own, private hands. Nonetheless, the new president could not govern without them. She agreed to leave Ortega's brother Humberto in charge of the army, provoking a split in the UNO coalition from which it did not recover. Throughout her seven-year term she was in effect obliged to rule in alliance with the FSLN, under the guidance of her politically savvy son-in-law, Antonio Lacayo – a de facto prime minister. Within months, she succeeded in persuading most of the contras to demobilise, in exchange for an offer of land. Ending the war, and beginning the process of national reconciliation, was probably her most lasting achievement. On the economic front she was not so successful. Her policies were based on the revival of the prostrate private sector and on a public sector reform programme that followed the standard, free-market, International Monetary Fund recipe. Burdened by debt and underdevelopment, plagued by natural disasters that included both drought and floods, Nicaragua stubbornly refused to advance, and by the end of Chamorro's term it seemed just as firmly stuck at the bottom of the Latin American pile. In January 1997, Chamorro handed the presidency to Arnoldo Alemán. It was only the second time in the country's history that one elected president had been succeeded by another. The celebration, however, was short-lived: within a few years Alemán was facing corruption charges, and in 2007 Ortega returned to office, and imposed a harsh crackdown on any opposition. Chamorro herself retired from active politics, though her family remained involved in public life. Since 2023 she had been receiving medical care in Costa Rica. She is survived by her children, and 12 grandchildren. Violeta Barrios de Chamorro, politician and newspaper proprietor, born 18 October 1929; died 14 June 2025
Bloomberg
a day ago
- Politics
- Bloomberg
Violeta Chamorro, Nicaragua's Former President, Dies at 95
Violeta Barrios de Chamorro, the Nicaraguan leader whose rule in the 1990s marked the end of the country's civil war and who served as Latin America's first elected female president, died on Saturday at 95. Chamorro took power in 1990 after beating revolutionary leader Daniel Ortega in a surprise election in which she united opposition forces against his Sandinista party. Ortega, who had led the overthrow of the dictatorship of Anastasio Somoza after four decades of his family's iron-fisted rule, was expected to win the vote.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Violeta Chamorro, who brought peace to Nicaragua, dead at 95
Violeta Chamorro, who brought peace to Nicaragua after decades of war and was the first woman elected president in the Americas, died Saturday at the age of 95, her family said. Chamorro, who ruled the poor Central American country from 1990 to 1997, "died in peace, surrounded by the affection and love of her children," said a statement issued by her four children. As president, Chamorro managed to bring to an end a civil war that had raged for much of the 1980s as US-backed rebels known as the 'Contras' fought the leftist Sandinista government. That conflict made Nicaragua one of the big proxy battlegrounds of the Cold War. Chamorro put her country on the path to democracy in the difficult years following the Sandinista revolution of 1979, which had toppled the US-backed right-wing regime of Anastasio Somoza. In a country known for macho culture, Chamorro had a maternal style and was known for her patience and a desire for reconciliation. When she won the 1990 election at the head of a broad coalition, she defeated Daniel Ortega, the Sandinista guerrilla leader and icon who is now president again. Ortega has been in power for 17 years and is widely criticized by governments and rights groups as having crushed personal freedoms, all political opposition and judicial independence with autocratic rule. Chamorro died in Costa Rica, where she moved in 2023, to be close to her children, three of whom are living here in exile because of their opposition to Ortega. Chamorro -- Nicaraguans referred to her affectionately as "Dona Violeta" -- had been living far removed from public life for decades. In her later years, she suffered from Alzheimer's disease. "Her legacy is unquestionable," said Felix Madariaga, a Nicaraguan academic and political activist living in exile in the United States. - 'Typical of a homemaker' - "She led the transition from war to peace, healing a country destroyed by war. The contrast with Ortega is clear and deep," said Madariaga. Chamorro was the widow of Pedro Joaquin Chamorro, who came from one of Nicaragua's most prominent families. As owner and chief editor of the newspaper La Prensa, he was killed in 1978 in an attack blamed on the regime of Anastasio Somoza. His death propelled Chamorro to take over the newspaper and, eventually, to get into politics. After the Sandinistas seized power in 1979, she became the only female member of a national reconstruction government. But she quit that junta in 1980, believing the Sandinistas were moving too far to the left and into the sphere of communist Cuba. Chamorro became prominent in the opposition to the Sandinistas as they fought the 'Contra' rebels financed by the United States under Ronald Reagan. In 1990, she stunned the country by winning the presidency -- and beating Ortega -- as leader of a coalition of 14 parties. During the campaign, she was known for wearing white and had to use a wheelchair because of a knee injury. In her memoirs, Chamorro said she won because she gained the trust of war-weary Nicaraguans as she spoke in simple language "typical of a homemaker and a mother." "In the macho culture of my country, few people believed that I, a woman, and what is more, handicapped, had the strength, energy and will" to beat Ortega, she wrote. "But if the Berlin Wall fell, why not the Sandinistas?" bur/mis/dw/sst
Toronto Star
a day ago
- Politics
- Toronto Star
Nicaragua's former President Violeta Chamorro dies at 95, family says
SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (AP) — Violeta Chamorro, an unassuming homemaker who was thrust into politics by her husband's assassination and stunned the world by ousting the ruling Sandinista party in presidential elections and ending Nicaragua 's civil war, has died, her family said in a statement on Saturday. She was 95. The country's first female president, known as Doña Violeta to both supporters and detractors, she presided over the Central American nation's uneasy transition to peace after nearly a decade of conflict between the Sandinista government of Daniel Ortega and U.S.-backed Contra rebels.
The Independent
a day ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Nicaragua's former President Violeta Chamorro dies at 95, family says
Violeta Chamorro, an unassuming homemaker who was thrust into politics by her husband's assassination and stunned the world by ousting the ruling Sandinista party in presidential elections and ending Nicaragua 's civil war, has died, her family said in a statement on Saturday. She was 95. The country's first female president, known as Doña Violeta to both supporters and detractors, she presided over the Central American nation's uneasy transition to peace after nearly a decade of conflict between the Sandinista government of Daniel Ortega and U.S.-backed Contra rebels. At nearly seven years, Chamorro's was the longest single term ever served by a democratically elected Nicaraguan leader, and when it was over she handed over the presidential sash to an elected civilian successor — a relative rarity for a country with a long history of strongman rule, revolution and deep political polarization. Chamorro died in San Jose, Costa Rica, according to the family's statement shared by her son, Carlos Fernando Chamorro, on X. 'Doña Violeta died peacefully, surrounded by the affection and love of her children and those who had provided her with extraordinary care, and now she finds herself in the peace of the Lord,' the statement said. A religious ceremony was being planned in San Jose. Her remains will be held in Costa Rica 'until Nicaragua returns to being a Republic,' the statement said. In more recent years, the family had been driven into exile in Costa Rica like hundreds of thousands of other Nicaraguans fleeing the repression of Ortega. Violeta Chamorro's daughter, Cristiana Chamorro, was held under house arrest for months in Nicaragua and then convicted of money laundering and other charges as Ortega moved to clear the field of challengers as he sought reelection. The Violeta Barrios de Chamorro Foundation closed its operations in Nicaragua in January 2021, as thousands of nongovernmental organizations have been forced to do since because Ortega has worked to silence any critical voices. It had provided training for journalists, helped finance journalistic outlets and defended freedom of expression. Husband's assassination Born Violeta Barrios Torres on Oct. 18, 1929, in the southwestern city of Rivas, Chamorro had little by way of preparation for the public eye. The eldest daughter of a landowning family, she was sent to U.S. finishing schools. After her father's death in 1948, she returned to the family home and married Pedro Joaquin Chamorro, who soon became editor and publisher of the family newspaper, La Prensa, following his own father's death. He penned editorials denouncing the abuses of the regime of Gen. Anastasio Somoza, whose family had ruled Nicaragua for four decades, and was gunned down on a Managua street in January 1978. The killing, widely believed to have been ordered by Somoza, galvanized the opposition and fueled the popular revolt led by Ortega's Sandinista National Liberation Front that toppled the dictator in July 1979. Chamorro herself acknowledged that she had little ambition beyond raising her four children before her husband's assassination. She said she was in Miami shopping for a wedding dress for one of her daughters when she heard the news. Still, Chamorro took over publishing La Prensa and also became a member of the junta that replaced Somoza. She quit just nine months later as the Sandinistas exerted their dominance and built a socialist government aligned with Cuba and the Soviet Union and at odds with the United States amid the Cold War. La Prensa became a leading voice of opposition to the Sandinistas and the focus of regular harassment by government supporters who accused the paper of being part of Washington's efforts — along with U.S.-financed rebels, dubbed 'Contras' by the Sandinistas for their counterrevolutionary fight — to undermine the leftist regime. Chamorro later recounted bitter memories of what she considered the Sandinistas' betrayal of her husband's democratic goals and her own faith in the anti-Somoza revolution. 'I'm not praising Somoza's government. It was horrible. But the threats that I've had from the Sandinistas — I never thought they would repay me in that way,' she said. 'Peace and progress' Chamorro saw her own family divided by the country's politics. Son Pedro Joaquin became a leader of the Contras, and daughter Cristiana worked as an editor at La Prensa. But another son, Carlos Fernando, and Chamorro's eldest daughter, Claudia, were militant Sandinistas. By 1990 Nicaragua was in tatters. The economy was in shambles thanks to a U.S. trade embargo, Sandinista mismanagement and war. Some 30,000 people had died in the fighting between the Contras and Sandinistas. When a coalition of 14 opposition parties nominated an initially reluctant Chamorro as their candidate in the presidential election called for February that year, few gave her much chance against the Sandinista incumbent, Ortega. Even after months of campaigning, she stumbled over speeches and made baffling blunders. Suffering from osteoporosis, a disease that weakens the bones, she broke her knee in a household fall and spent much of the campaign in a wheelchair. But elegant, silver-haired and dressed almost exclusively in white, she connected with many Nicaraguans tired of war and hardship. Her maternal image, coupled with promises of reconciliation and an end to the military draft, contrasted with Ortega's swagger and revolutionary rhetoric. 'I bring the flag of love,' she told a rally shortly before the vote. 'Hatred has only brought us war and hunger. With love will come peace and progress.' She shocked the Sandinistas and the world by handily winning the election, hailing her victory as the fulfillment of her late husband's vision. 'We knew that in a free election we would achieve a democratic republic of the kind Pedro Joaquin always dreamed,' Chamorro said. Washington lifted trade sanctions and promised aid to rebuild the nation's ravaged economy, and by June the 19,000-strong Contra army had been disbanded, formally ending an eight-year war. Forced into negotiations Chamorro had little else to celebrate during her first months in office. In the two months between the election and her inauguration, the Sandinistas looted the government, signing over government vehicles and houses to militants in a giveaway that became popularly known as 'the pinata.' Her plans to stabilize the hyperinflation-wracked economy with free-market reforms were met with stiff opposition from the Sandinistas, who had the loyalty of most of the country's organized labor. Chamorro's first 100 days in power were marred by two general strikes, the second of which led to street battles between protesters and government supporters. To restore order Chamorro called on the Sandinista-dominated army, testing the loyalty of the force led by Gen. Humberto Ortega, Daniel Ortega's older brother. The army took to the streets but did not act against the strikers. Chamorro was forced into negotiations, broadening the growing rift between moderates and hardliners in her government. Eventually her vice president, Virgilio Godoy, became one over her most vocal critics. Nicaraguans hoping that Chamorro's election would quickly bring stability and economic progress were disappointed. Within a year some former Contras had taken up arms again, saying they were being persecuted by security forces still largely controlled by the Sandinistas. Few investors were willing to gamble on a destitute country with a volatile workforce, while foreign volunteers who had been willing to pick coffee and cotton in support of the Sandinistas had long departed. 'What more do you want than to have the war ended?' Chamorro said after a year in office. Vision of forgiveness Chamorro was unable to undo Nicaragua's dire poverty. By the end of her administration in early 1997, unemployment was measured at over 50 percent, while crime, drug abuse and prostitution — practically unheard of during the Sandinista years — soared. That year she handed the presidential sash to another elected civilian: conservative Arnoldo Aleman, who also defeated Ortega at the ballot. In her final months in office, Chamorro published an autobiography, 'Dreams of the Heart,' in which she emphasized her vision of forgiveness and reconciliation. 'After six years as president, she has broadened her definition of 'my children' to include all Nicaraguans,' wrote a reviewer for the Los Angeles Times. 'So even political opponents like Ortega are briefly criticized in one sentence, only to be generously forgiven in the next.' After leaving office, Chamorro retired to her Managua home and her grandchildren. She generally steered clear of politics and created the Violeta Barrios de Chamorro Foundation. In 2011 it was revealed that she suffered from a brain tumor. In October 2018, she was hospitalized and said by family members to be in 'delicate condition' after suffering a cerebral embolism, a kind of stroke.
