Édgar Chamorro Coronel (born 23 July 1931) is a Nicaraguan former politician and military officer. He was a leader of the

Contras In the history of Nicaragua, the Contras (Spanish: ''La contrarrevolución'', the counter-revolution) were the right-wing militias who waged anti-communist guerilla warfare (1979–1990) against the Marxist governments of the Sandinista Na ...

but later became a critic of the rebels and their

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...

sponsors, even cooperating with the Sandinista government in their World Court case, ''

Nicaragua v. United States ''The Republic of Nicaragua v. The United States of America'' (1986) was a case where the International Court of Justice (ICJ) held that the U.S. had violated Public international law, international law by United States and state-sponsored terro ...

''. He is a member of the prominent

Chamorro family Chamorro may refer to: * Chamorro people, the indigenous people of the Mariana Islands in the Western Pacific * Chamorro language, an Austronesian language indigenous to The Marianas * Chamorro Time Zone, the time zone of Guam and the Northern Ma ...

that provided five of Nicaragua's past presidents.

Early life

Édgar Chamorro is the son of Julio Chamorro Benard and Dolores "Lola" Coronel Urtecho, the paternal grandson of Filadelfo Chamorro Bolaños and Bertha Benard Vivas and great-grandson of Pedro Joaquín Chamorro y Alfaro, 39th President of Nicaragua, and María de la Luz Bolaños Bendaña. He has six brothers and four sisters, and is the nephew of intellectual José Coronel Urtecho. In 1950, 19-year-old Chamorro began studying for the

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

priesthood, earning degrees from Ecuador's

Catholic University Catholic higher education includes universities, colleges, and other institutions of higher education privately run by the Catholic Church, typically by religious institutes. Those tied to the Holy See are specifically called pontifical univers ...

(B.A., ''magna cum laude''),

Saint Louis University Saint Louis University (SLU) is a private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit research university in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Founded in 1818 by Louis William Valentine DuBourg, it is the oldest university west of the Missi ...

(M.Th., ''summa cum laude''), and

Marquette University Marquette University () is a Private university, private Jesuit research university in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. It was established as Marquette College on August 28, 1881, by John Henni, the first Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Ar ...

(M.Ed.). Chamorro joined the faculty of the Jesuit-run

University of Central America Central American University may refer to: * Central American University, Managua * Central American University, San Salvador * Autonomous University of Central America, located in Costa Rica {{Disambiguation ...

, eventually becoming a full professor and Dean of the School of Humanities before leaving the priesthood in 1969. He received a masters degree in education from

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

in 1972, and later joined a public relations and marketing firm, Creative Publicity, in

Managua Managua () is the capital city, capital and largest city of Nicaragua, and one of the List of largest cities in Central America, largest cities in Central America. Located on the shores of Lake Managua, the city had an estimated population of 1, ...

. In 1977,

Anastasio Somoza Debayle Anastasio "Tachito" Somoza Debayle (; 5 December 1925 – 17 September 1980) was a Nicaraguan politician who served as the 53rd President of Nicaragua from 1967 to 1972 and again from 1974 to 1979. As head of the National Guard (Nicaragu ...

appointed him to a figurehead post as a special ambassador to the

United Nations General Assembly The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA or GA; , AGNU or AG) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), serving as its main deliberative, policymaking, and representative organ. Currently in its Seventy-ninth session of th ...

for a year.

Activities during Nicaraguan civil war

During the

Sandinista The Sandinista National Liberation Front (, FSLN) is a socialist political party in Nicaragua. Its members are called Sandinistas () in both English and Spanish. The party is named after Augusto César Sandino, who led the Nicaraguan resistan ...

Revolution, Chamorro sympathized with the rebels, at one point hiding

Sergio Ramírez Sergio Ramírez Mercado (; born 5 August 1942 in Masatepe, Nicaragua) is a Nicaraguan writer and intellectual who was a key figure in 1979 revolution, served in the leftist Government Junta of National Reconstruction and as vice president of ...

from the

National Guard National guard is the name used by a wide variety of current and historical uniformed organizations in different countries. The original National Guard was formed during the French Revolution around a cadre of defectors from the French Guards. ...

. But as the civil war's climax brought fierce fighting to the capital itself, fears for his family's safety led him to leave for

Miami, Florida Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

on 17 June 1979. Somoza fell a month later, but after visiting Nicaragua in September, Chamorro decided to remain in Miami. By late 1979, Chamorro had become involved in the anti-Sandinista activities of the Miami exile community. He joined the

Nicaraguan Democratic Union The Nicaraguan Democratic Union (UDN, ') was founded in late 1980 by José Francisco Cardenal, an early leader of the anti-Sandinista rebel movement that became known as the Nicaraguan Contras. The UDN was based in Miami, Florida, among its growing ...

(UDN), formed the next year by

José Francisco Cardenal José Francisco Cardenal (born 1940) was a Nicaraguan businessman who became known as one of the most pugnacious opponents of the Somoza and then the Sandinista regimes of Nicaragua, and played an important role in the early days of the Contras, ...

, which merged into the

Nicaraguan Democratic Force The Nicaraguan Democratic Force (', or FDN) was one of the earliest Contra groups, formed on August 11, 1981, in Guatemala City. It was formed to oppose Nicaragua's revolutionary Sandinista government following the 1979 overthrow of Anastasio Somo ...

(FDN) in August 1981. He served on the FDN's political executive committee, which decided to replace Cardenal with a new political directorate. Chamorro was tapped to be a member of the directorate, unveiled at a 8 December 1982 press conference. With his public relations experience, he took on a spokesman role for the FDN, and based himself in

Tegucigalpa Tegucigalpa ( )—formally Tegucigalpa, Municipality of the Central District ( or ''Tegucigalpa, M.D.C.''), and colloquially referred to as ''Tegus'' or ''Teguz''—is the capital and largest city of Honduras along with its sister city, Comaya ...

, Honduras to liaison with journalists covering the war. Chamorro claimed that the

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...

prepped him before press conferences and told him to deny that the group had received any funding from the US government. Chamorro was miffed when the FDN directorate, at the CIA's prompting, appointed

Adolfo Calero Adolfo Calero Portocarrero (December 22, 1931 – June 2, 2012) was a Nicaraguan businessman and the leader of the Nicaraguan Democratic Force, the largest rebel group of the Contras, opposing the Sandinista government. Calero was responsib ...

as its president in October 1983. His not-so-private grumblings that his Chamorro lineage was more illustrious than Calero's did not help their deteriorating relations. Chamorro was forced out in November 1984, in the fallout from the furor over the CIA's ''

Psychological Operations in Guerrilla Warfare ''Psychological Operations in Guerrilla Warfare'' (') was a manual written by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) for the Nicaraguan Contras, who were involved in a civil war with the Nicaraguan government. It was revealed by the Associated Pre ...

'', labeled by the press a "murder manual." He turned against the rebel movement, even submitting an affidavit for the Sandinista government before the

International Court of Justice The International Court of Justice (ICJ; , CIJ), or colloquially the World Court, is the only international court that Adjudication, adjudicates general disputes between nations, and gives advisory opinions on International law, internation ...

in ''

''.

After the war

Chamorro is author of ''Packaging the Contras: A Case of C.I.A. Disinformation'' (1987). He has served as a teacher of

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

and Latin American Studies at

Bard College at Simon's Rock Bard College at Simon's Rock (more commonly known as Simon's Rock) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. It is part of Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudso ...

since 1990 (full-time to 2003), and the John Dewey Academy in

Great Barrington, Massachusetts Great Barrington is a New England town, town in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts, Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 7,172 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Bot ...

since 2005.

References

: {{DEFAULTSORT:Chamorro, Edgar Contras Nicaraguan diplomats Harvard Graduate School of Education alumni Former Jesuits Bard College at Simon's Rock faculty Edgar Chamorro Permanent representatives of Nicaragua to the United Nations 1931 births Living people People of the Nicaraguan Revolution Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador alumni Saint Louis University alumni Marquette University alumni Central American University (Managua)