Biography

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Violeta Barrios de Chamorro was the first and remains the only female president of Nicaragua from 1990 to 1997, as well as the first Latin American woman to ascend to the office by election.

Violeta Barrios de Chamorro was born in 1929 in Nicaragua and pursued part of her education in the United States before returning to Nicaragua. 

Chamorro was involved in the Sandinista revolution in 1979, and after nearly a decade of civil war and economic sanctions, Chamorro was chosen as the presidential candidate of the National Opposition Union in 1989, which was a coalition that ran against and she defeated the Sandinistas and then-President Daniel Ortega.

Barred from running for a second term, she retired from politics after her term ended in January 1997. Since leaving office Chamorro worked on several international peace initiatives. She established the foundation 'Violeta Barrios de Chamorro' to strengthen peace initiatives. She also published a biography in 1996 'Dreams of the Heart.' Chamorro is a member of the Carter Center’s Council of Presidents and Prime Ministers of the Americas Program, and is a member of the Inter-American Dialogue.