Chamorro, Violeta Barrios de << chuh MAW roh, vee oh LAY tah BAHR ee ohs deh >> (1929-…), was president of Nicaragua from 1990 to 1997. She succeeded Daniel Ortega after defeating him in a presidential election. Ortega represented the Sandinista National Liberation Front, which had governed Nicaragua since the overthrow of dictator Anastasio Somoza Debayle in 1979. A group of 14 anti-Sandinista parties called the National Opposition Union supported Chamorro. These political parties, ranging from conservatives to Communists, saw her as a candidate who could unite Nicaragua after years of civil war.
Chamorro was born Violeta Barrios on Oct. 18, 1929, in Rivas, Nicaragua. She married Pedro Joaquín Chamorro in 1950. He served as editor of the newspaper La Prensa, which was highly critical of the Somoza dictatorship. Pedro Chamorro was assassinated in 1978. Violeta then began to work with the Sandinistas to overthrow Somoza. When they succeeded, she became one of the five members of the junta that led the Sandinista government. A junta is a small group that rules by decree. Chamorro resigned in 1980 as a protest against government policies that she considered undemocratic.
See also Nicaragua (The late 1900’s).
