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Violeta Barrios de Chamorro, former president of Nicaragua, passed away on Saturday, June 14, 2025, in San José, Costa Rica, at the age of 95. She was the first woman in the Americas to be elected president by popular vote.
The Chamorro Barrios family confirmed the death through a statement on Saturday morning. “Our mother, Violeta Barrios de Chamorro, former president of Nicaragua, passed away today, June 14, 2025, at 2:21 a.m. in San José, Costa Rica, at the age of 95, after a long illness,” the statement read.
Violeta Barrios de Chamorro: The Woman Who Fought for Peace
She dreamed of a country in democracy, and became the first woman president of the Americas
They noted that “Doña Violeta passed away peacefully, surrounded by the love and care of her children and the people who provided her with extraordinary care. She is now at peace with the Lord.”
The former president, born in Rivas on October 18, 1929, arrived in the Costa Rican capital on October 17, 2023, after a prolonged medical condition in Nicaragua and years of retirement from public life.
On October 1, 2018, her family announced that Violeta Barrios de Chamorro had suffered “a stroke or cerebral embolism.” Since then, details about her health had been kept private.
She Will Rest Temporarily in Costa Rica
The family added that the religious ceremony “to celebrate her life of love and generosity to her family and her beloved homeland Nicaragua,” would be held in San Jose.
Hours later, it was specified that the mass will be on Monday, June 16, at 12:00 noon, in the Votive Temple of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. In addition, the family requested that no floral offerings be sent and, if they wish, they can make a donation to the work of Sister Maria Romero, Nicaraguan Blessed of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians of the Salesian Congregation.
“Her remains,” they continued, “will rest temporarily in San José, Costa Rica, until Nicaragua is once again a Republic, and her patriotic legacy can be honored in a free and democratic country.”
They concluded by thanking “Nicaraguans everywhere around the world for their prayers and solidarity, and especially the people and government of Costa Rica, who welcomed her during these final years of her life.”
Violeta Barrios de Chamorro’s Presidency
“The soul and very essence of Nicaragua is freedom,” said Violeta Barrios de Chamorro in one of the most memorable moments of her speech as she assumed the presidency of Nicaragua on April 25, 1990. That day, she pledged to bring peace to a nation emerging from what felt like an endless war.
Barrios de Chamorro became the first figure of national leadership who did not rely on authoritarianism or violence to guide a country long torn by division. In the February 1990 elections, she defeated then-president and candidate of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), Daniel Ortega Saavedra, who remains in power today after returning to the presidency in January 2007.
“It is a beautiful thing when a Republic rises without bloodshed, like a new sun of justice and freedom,” she added in that inaugural address.
In her memoirs, former President Violeta Barrios de Chamorro wrote about how difficult it was to take charge of a country devastated by the bloody civil war of the 1980s, which left tens of thousands dead.
Violeta Barrios de Chamorro was also the wife of Pedro Joaquín Chamorro Cardenal, journalist and Martyr of Public Liberties, assassinated on January 10, 1978, by the the Somoza dictatorship.
Three Children in Exile
Three of the former president’s children are living in exile and have been stripped of their nationality by order of the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega and his wife, Rosario Murillo. Their properties have also been confiscated.
Pedro Joaquín Chamorro Barrios, former political exile of Daniel Ortega’s regime, was exiled to the United States in February 2023. On the same date, Cristiana Chamorro Barrios, who currently resides in Costa Rica, was also released from prison and banished. Both were jailed in 2021 after showing interest in participating in the elections as presidential candidates.
Meanwhile, her son Carlos Fernando Chamorro, director of CONFIDENCIAL, has been in exile in Costa Rica since June 2021.
