Violeta Chamorro, Nicaraguan leader who championed Catholic, democratic values, dies

(OSV News) -- Violeta Chamorro, the former Nicaraguan president who led a coalition of 14 political parties to power in the 1990 election -- ousting Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega and ending nearly a decade of civil war -- has died in exile at age 95 in San Jose, Costa Rica.

Nicaraguan Catholics remembered Doña Violeta, as she was known in Nicaragua, as a figure of unity after years of conflict and church persecution under Sandinista rule.

"(She was) very Catholic," recalled an exiled priest in comments to OSV News. "She stood up to the military monster of Nicaragua ruled by the Ortegas."

In a Facebook post, Father Erick Díaz, an exiled priest in the United States, described Chamorro as "a courageous woman, who took on the challenge of leading a nation marked by pain and crisis, and who, with firmness and dignity, worked to restore peace and seek reconciliation among Nicaraguans."

Father Edwin Román, an exiled priest in Miami, recalled performing the sacrament of anointing of the sick for Chamorro at a hospital in Managua in 2019. "Rest in peace this noble Nicaraguan woman, former President Violeta Barrios de Chamorro for her Christian and moral values; for seeking the good of Nicaragua," he posted on X.

Chamorro became Latin America's first elected female president with her unlikely victory in an election which was established with the peace accord ending a civil war between the Sandinistas and U.S.-financed rebels, dubbed "Contras" by the Sandinistas for their counterrevolutionary fight.

A mother of four, she was not a political figure, though her husband, Pedro Joaquín Chamorro, was an implacable opponent of the then-dictator Anastasio Somoza. Their newspaper, La Prensa, published critical editorials. Pedro Joaquín was shot dead in 1978.

Tall and elegant with white hair, Chamorro campaigned wearing white. "She spoke a very natural and Nicaraguan language," said an exiled priest who wished to remain anonymous. Her deep Catholic faith, meanwhile, "struck a chord with conservative peasants some of whom linked her to the Virgin Mary," according to an obituary in The Wall Street Journal.

She demobilized soldiers during her seven years in office and ended conscription.

Chamorro welcomed St. John Paul II with a kiss on the cheek as he arrived at the Managua airport for a 1996 visit. The scene contrasted with Ortega subjecting the pope to a revolutionary diatribe when arriving for a 1983 visit -- then having Sandinista hecklers interrupt Mass. The pope recalled the discourteous acts as "a great dark night," during his second visit.

"She represented a very important symbol for the Christian people of Nicaragua, especially because, while Ortega had an intense confrontational relationship with the Catholic Church, Doña Violeta had that very strong identification with the Catholic Church," Arturo McFields, a former Nicaraguan diplomat, told OSV News.

"She represented the cross. Ortega represented the rifle."

Chamorro is remembered fondly in Nicaragua, though analysts describe her government as failing to institutionalize democracy in the country. Her successor, Arnoldo Aleman, was accused of graft and put on a list of corrupt foreign officials by the U.S. government in 2020.

"She was a true inspiration who gave Nicaraguans hope," Eric Farnsworth, vice president at the Americas Society/Council of the Americas, told OSV News. "But her legacy ultimately turned out to be more of unfulfilled promise."

President Daniel Ortega regained office in 2007. Ortega and his wife, Co-President Rosario Murillo, have persecuted the Catholic Church over the past seven years, sending four bishops into exile, along with dozens of priests and nuns, prohibiting public expressions of faith and spying on priests and parishes.

Chamorro was also forced into exile, along with members of her family. She had been residing in Costa Rica, where she died.

Cristiana Chamorro, Doña Violeta's eldest daughter, was detained and put under house arrest after declaring her candidacy for the 2021 presidential election. Chamorro's son Pedro Joaquín Jr. was reportedly considering a presidential bid and was also detained by the Ortega regime. Another son, Carlos Fernando Chamorro, publisher of the newspaper Confidencial, fled to Costa Rica.

Cristiana and Pedro Joaquín Jr. were sent to the United States in 2023 as part of a mass expulsion of 222 political prisoners, which included priests.

For its part, the Nicaraguan government said in a statement that her figure represented "a contribution to the necessary peace in our country."

Others remembered Chamorro as a champion of democracy in a country sliding toward totalitarianism.

"She continues being a symbol or an ideal of what democracy and freedom meant to Nicaraguans," McFields said. "When people think of Doña Violeta, they feel hopeful that one day Nicaragua will become a republic again."