Hope Portocarrero, also known as Madame Somoza and Hope Somoza Baldocchi later in life, (June 28, 1929 – 5 October 1991) was the wife of dictator and president of Nicaragua

Anastasio Somoza Debayle Anastasio "Tachito" Somoza Debayle (; 5 December 1925 – 17 September 1980) was the President of Nicaragua from 1 May 1967 to 1 May 1972 and from 1 December 1974 to 17 July 1979. As head of the National Guard, he was ''de facto'' ruler of ...

and, beginning in 1967,

First Lady of Nicaragua The First Lady of Nicaragua (Spanish: ''Primera dama de Nicaragua'') is the title attributed to the wife of the President of Nicaragua, or their chosen designee, such as a daughter or other relative. The current incumbent first lady is Rosario M ...

for a time. In 1968 she was named to the

International Best Dressed List The International Best-Dressed Hall of Fame List was founded by fashionista Eleanor Lambert in 1940 as an attempt to boost the reputation of American fashion at the time. The American magazine '' Vanity Fair'' is currently in charge of the List af ...

. She was the mother of

Anastasio Somoza Portocarrero Anastasio Somoza Portocarrero (born 1 February 1951) is a Nicaraguan American colonel and businessman. Biography Early life Anastasio Somoza Portocarrero was born on December 18, 1951, in Miami, Florida, United States. A member of the Somoza fa ...

and four other children.

Early life

Born in 1929 in

Tampa Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and the seat of Hillsborough County ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, Hope Portocarrero was the daughter of Dr. Nestor Portocarrero Gross and Blanca DeBayle Sacasa de Portocarrero. She had one brother, Nestor. She was 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 Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

, French and

Nicaraguan Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the countr ...

descent. Her grandfather was Dr. Louis Henri DeBayle Pallais, and married to Casimira Sacasa Sacasa. He was a good friend of

Rubén Darío Félix Rubén García Sarmiento (January 18, 1867 – February 6, 1916), known as Rubén Darío ( , ), was a Nicaraguan poet who initiated the Spanish-language literary movement known as ''modernismo'' (modernism) that flourished at the end of ...

. Her maternal great-grandfather was

Roberto Sacasa Sarria Roberto Sacasa Sarria (27 February 1840 – 2 June 1896) was the President of Nicaragua from 5 August 1889 to 1 January 1891 and again from 1 March 1891 to 11 July 1893. Ancestry He was the son of Juan Bautista Sacasa Méndez and Casimira Sarri ...

, former President of Nicaragua. The DeBayles and Portocarreros were among Nicaragua's wealthiest families. She spoke fluent English, Italian, Spanish, and French and had an appreciation for art and culture. After 1943, she moved to

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, where she often spent time with her cousin Lillian Sevilla-Sacasa (née Somoza). She attended

Barnard College Barnard College of Columbia University is a private women's liberal arts college in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1889 by a group of women led by young student activist Annie Nathan Meyer, who petitioned Columbia ...

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

and was in the class of 1950. Portocarrero spent the summer of 1949 traveling in Europe accompanied by her mother.

Marriage

Portocarrero and her cousin

were married on 10 December 1950 in Managua's Cathedral by Archbishop José Antonio Lezcano. Over 4,000 guests attended the ceremony. The reception was given by her father-in-law, President

Anastasio Somoza García Anastasio Somoza García (1 February 1896 – 29 September 1956) was the leader of Nicaragua from 1937 until his assassination in 1956. He was only officially the 21st President of Nicaragua from 1 January 1937 to 1 May 1947 and from 21 May 19 ...

, in the luxurious and modern

Palacio de Comunicaciones Cibeles Palace (Spanish: ''Palacio de Cibeles''), formally known as Palacio de Comunicaciones (''Palace of Communications'') and Palacio de Telecomunicaciones (''Palace of Telecommunications'') until 2011, is a complex composed of two buildings ...

. The couple traveled to South America for their honeymoon. The Somozas had five children:

Anastasio Anastasio is both a given name and a surname. Notable people with the name include: People with the given name * Anastasio Alfaro (1865–1951), Costa Rican zoologist, geologist and explorer * Anastasio Aquino (1792–1833), Salvadoran indigenou ...

, Julio, Carolina, Carla, and Roberto Somoza Portocarrero. Her daughter, Carolina, is married to James Minskoff Sterling, son of New York real estate developer Henry H. Minskoff and his wife."Miss Somoza Wed to Dr. J. M. Sterling"
''New York Times'', October 16, 1984

First Lady of Nicaragua

When her husband became president of Nicaragua in 1967, Portocarrero became the

First Lady First lady is an unofficial title usually used for the wife, and occasionally used for the daughter or other female relative, of a non-monarchical A monarchy is a form of government in which a person, the monarch, is head of state fo ...

. She was covered in the media for her fashionable wardrobe. During her husband's time in office, she served as a hostess for many state visits, among them U.S. President

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...

and

Japanese Emperor The Emperor of Japan is the monarch and the head of the Imperial Family of Japan. Under the Constitution of Japan, he is defined as the symbol of the Japanese state and the unity of the Japanese people, and his position is derived from "the wi ...

Hirohito Emperor , commonly known in English-speaking countries by his personal name , was the 124th emperor of Japan, ruling from 25 December 1926 until his death in 1989. Hirohito and his wife, Empress Kōjun, had two sons and five daughters; he was ...

. Somoza was also president of the ' (National Social Security). She created the National Cultural Center, the General Archives of the National Library, National Conservatory of Music, National School of Fine Arts (Bellas Artes), National Museum, and Plurar Gallery. Her biggest legacies were the construction of

Teatro Nacional Rubén Darío Teatro may refer to: * Theatre * Teatro (band) Teatro, Italian for "theatre", is a vocal group signed to the Sony BMG music label. The members of Teatro are Jeremiah James, Andrew Alexander, Simon Bailey and Stephen Rahman-Hughes. Band member ...

(The National Theater of Nicaragua), the Children's Hospital, a clinic for Nicaraguan women, and a Center for Orphans, known as "The Hope".

Final years

Due to continuing marital strife, her husband Anastasio began a relationship with a mistress, Dinorah Sampson. Portocarrero later relocated to London. Since the couple were Catholic, she never divorced Somoza. A year after he died, she married Archie Baldocchi, a wealthy American businessman. She died of cancer in

Miami, Florida Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

on 5 October 1991.

References

SOMOZA'S SON MARRIES; 4,000 See Wedding in Managua to Hope Portocarrero of Miami
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''
Primeras damas: poder y apariencia
''

El Nuevo Diario ''El Nuevo Diario'' was a Nicaraguan newspaper, with offices in the capital Managua. History In 1980, the owner of ''La Prensa'' fired the editor Xavier Chamorro Cardenal. Eighty percent of the papers employees left with Chamorro Cardena due to ...

''
Bracing for the Aftershocks
''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

'' magazine

External links

The Somoza Dynasty