Rosa María Isabel Urcuyo Rodríguez de Somoza (31 July 1924 – 30 August 2014) was a Costa Rican-born diplomat and the

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 Mur ...

from 1957 to 1963 as the wife of President

Luis Somoza Debayle Luis Anastasio Somoza Debayle (18 November 1922 – 13 April 1967) was the 26th President of Nicaragua from 21 September 1956 to 1 May 1963. Somoza Debayle was born in León. At the age of 14, he and his younger brother Anastasio attended Sa ...

Biography

Isabel Urcuyo was born in Costa Rica on 31 July 1924. Her father was Clodomiro Urcuyo Argüello, a wealthy Nicaraguan who owned large areas of land in northern Costa Rica and served as Minister of Education in the government of

Juan Bautista Sacasa Juan Bautista Sacasa (21 December 1874 in León, Nicaragua – 17 April 1946 in Los Angeles, California) was the President of Nicaragua from 1 January 1933 to 9 June 1936. He was the eldest son of Roberto Sacasa and Ángela Sacasa Cuadra, the form ...

. Her mother was Costa Rican Amalia Rodríguez. By maternal line, she was descended from the Costa Rican oligarchy. Isabel was the youngest of a family of four children; her siblings were Vicente (Nicaraguan ambassador to Spain), Clodomiro, and Anita. She studied at the Colegio La Asunción de Managua, where she earned a bachelor's degree in science and literature. She learned English with a private American tutor. She married

on 9 June 1947, who flew to San José to court her, as she spent seasons with relatives there. They had met as neighbors when they were children. When Somoza returned to Nicaragua as an adult, they soon became engaged. Their civil marriage took place at the Urcuyo house in

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, and a religious ceremony was held in the Archbishopric, followed by a reception at the Palacio de la Curva in the . They had seven children together. Isabel Urcuyo accompanied her husband at the historic summit held in Costa Rica in 1963, attended by the presidents of Central America and U.S. President

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination i ...

. She also made several successful tours of Mexico, the United States, Europe, and Japan, where she was decorated by

Emperor 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 ...

with the

Order of the Precious Crown The is a Japanese order, established on January 4, 1888 by Emperor Meiji of Japan. Since the Order of the Rising Sun at that time was an Order for men, it was established as an Order for women. Originally the order had five classes, but on Ap ...

for fostering friendly relations between his country and Nicaragua. She was also decorated by

Pope John XXIII Pope John XXIII ( la, Ioannes XXIII; it, Giovanni XXIII; born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, ; 25 November 18813 June 1963) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 28 October 1958 until his death in June 19 ...

in Rome. As First Lady, she was known for charitable works, particularly those benefitting children, and organizing social assistance programs. When Somoza left office, he and Urcuyo took a trip around the world. After his death from a heart attack on 13 April 1967, she was made an honorary consul of Nicaragua in New York and ambassador to the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

. After the

Sandinista Revolution The Nicaraguan Revolution ( es, Revolución Nicaragüense or Revolución Popular Sandinista, link=no) encompassed the rising opposition to the Somoza dictatorship in the 1960s and 1970s, the campaign led by the Sandinista National Liberation Fr ...

Daniel Ortega José Daniel Ortega Saavedra (; born 11 November 1945) is a Nicaraguans, Nicaraguan revolutionary and politician serving as President of Nicaragua since 2007. Previously he was leader of Nicaragua from 1979 to 1990, first as coordinator of the ...

and subsequently

Violeta Chamorro Violeta Barrios Torres de Chamorro (; 18 October 1929) is a Nicaraguan politician who served as President of Nicaragua from 1990 to 1997. She was the first and, as of 2022, only woman to hold the position of president of Nicaragua. Born into ...

denied her entry to Nicaragua. She was granted a visa during the government of

Arnoldo Alemán José Arnoldo Alemán Lacayo (born 23 January 1946) is a Nicaraguan politician who served as the 81st president of Nicaragua from 10 January 1997 to 10 January 2002. In 2003, he was convicted of corruption and sentenced to a 20-year prison term; ...

. She moved to

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

, Texas in the early 1990s. Isabel Urcuyo de Somoza died in Houston on the morning of 30 August 2014.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Urcuyo, Isabel 1924 births 2014 deaths Costa Rican emigrants to Nicaragua First ladies of Nicaragua Nicaraguan expatriates in the United States Nicaraguan women diplomats Order of the Precious Crown members Nicaraguan women ambassadors Nicaraguan Roman Catholics 20th-century diplomats

Biography

See also

References