Violeta Chamorro

Violeta Barrios Torres de Chamorro (18 October 1929 – 14 June 2025) was a Nicaraguan politician. She and was President of Nicaragua from 1990 to 1996. Her husband, Pedro Chamorro, was a newspaper editor. He was assassinated in 1978. She took over as editor of the paper, La Prensa.

Early life
Violeta Barrios Torres was born on 18 October 1929 in Rivas, a small city near the Nicaraguan border with Costa Rica, to Carlos José Barrios Sacasa and Amalia Torres Hurtado. Her family were rich and conservative.

Presidency
Chamorro ran for president in 1990. When she announced her candidacy, many people and the media thought she could not win because she did not have any experience. She was running against President Daniel Ortega. 

On 25 February 1990, Chamorro won the election with a 54.7% of the vote, beating Ortega. She became the first elected woman president in the Americas. Her victory was seen as an upset victory. Ortega accepted the results and peacefully transferred power over to Chamorro.

Two months after the election, on 25 April 1990, Chamorro was sworn into office.

Death
Chamorro died on 14 June 2025 in San José, Costa Rica at the age of 95.

References

Other websites

Violeta de Chamorro Foundation 
Violeta Chamorro: New Direction for Nicaragua from the Dean Peter Krogh Foreign Affairs Digital Archives
 Biography by CIDOB (in Spanish)


Category:Presidents of Nicaragua
Category:1929 births
Category:2025 deaths
Category:Journalists