Cristiana Chamorro Barrios

Cristiana Chamorro Barrios (born 25 February 1954) is a Nicaraguan journalist, nonprofit executive and political candidate. Vice-president of La Prensa, she was an aspiring presidential candidate in the 2021 Nicaraguan general election until the government of Daniel Ortega disqualified her from running and ordered her arrest in early June 2021.

Chamorro is the daughter of newspaper editor Pedro Joaquín Chamorro Cardenal, who was assassinated in 1978, and Violeta Barrios de Chamorro, who became president of Nicaragua in 1990. Cristiana began working at La Prensa following her father's death and served as its editor from 1987 to 1991. She also served in the role of First Lady of Nicaragua during her mother's presidency. She later became director of a press freedom foundation honoring her mother, the Violeta Barrios de Chamorro Foundation, until new legal restrictions on civic organizations in Nicaragua forced the closure of the foundation in 2021.

Career La Prensa Chamorro is the daughter of assassinated newspaper editor Pedro Joaquín Chamorro Cardenal and former Nicaraguan president Violeta Barrios de Chamorro. Her father, a critic of the Somoza regime, was murdered in 1978, turning the tide of support against the dictatorship which fell to the Sandinista National Liberation Front the following year. Cristiana joined her mother in working at his paper, La Prensa, and by 35 was editor of the paper. She served in the role from January 1987 to April 1991.

She supported her mother's 1989 campaign for the presidency, Readership declined and by the winter of 1990 Violeta decided to cede her role as publisher and give her shares in the paper to Cristiana.

Violeta Barrios de Chamorro Foundation Chamorro also became director of the press freedom foundation in her mother's name, the Violeta Barrios de Chamorro Foundation (FVBdC). She served in this capacity until January 2021, and in February 2021 the Foundation ceased operations after the Ortega government, which had returned to power in 2007, announced a new law that all groups receiving funding from outside Nicaragua would be required to register as foreign agents. Rather than accept foreign status, the Foundation shut down.

Politics

Prior to being put under house arrest, Chamorro was a pre-candidate for president of Nicaragua, supporting a unified opposition ticket to challenge incumbent Daniel Ortega, who was running for a fifth term. In May, the Ortega regime opened an investigation into Chamorro's work at the Foundation, alleging money laundering, This followed on Nicaragua's Supreme Electoral Council's revocation of the legal status of opposition party the Democratic Restoration Party (PRD). The Ortega government then announced she was disqualified from running and on 2 June raided her house and detained her 15 minutes before she was scheduled to give a press conference, Chamorro has been living in exile in the United States since February 9, 2023, when she was unexpectedly removed from her house and boarded onto a plane along with 221 other political prisoners.

Personal life Chamorro was married to Antonio Lacayo, from 1978 until his death in a helicopter crash in 2015.