Rosario María Murillo Zambrana (; born 22 June 1951) is a Nicaraguan politician and poet who has held the position of
Vice President of Nicaragua, the country's second highest office, since January 2017 and
First Lady of Nicaragua since 2007 as the wife of President
Daniel Ortega
José Daniel Ortega Saavedra (; born 11 November 1945) is a 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 Junta of Na ...
. Murillo has served as the Nicaraguan government's lead spokesperson,
government minister, head of the Sandinista Association of Cultural Workers, and Communications Coordinator of the Council on Communication and Citizenry. She was sworn in as vice president of Nicaragua on 10 January 2017. In August 2021, she was made subject to personal sanctions by the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are located primarily in Europe, Europe. The union has a total area of ...
, over alleged human rights violations.
Life and career
Murillo was born in
Managua
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,
Nicaragua
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 coun ...
. Her father was Teódulo Murillo Molina (1915–1996), a cotton grower and livestock owner. Her mother was Zoilamérica Zambrana Sandino (1926–1973; the daughter of Orlando José Zambrana Báez and Zoilamérica Sandino Tiffer), a niece of General
Augusto César Sandino (1895–1934) who fought against the US occupation in Nicaragua. Murillo's maternal grandmother, Zoilamérica Sandino Tiffer, was a paternal half-sister of Augusto Nicolás Calderón Sandino, also known as Augusto César Sandino. She married
Daniel Ortega
José Daniel Ortega Saavedra (; born 11 November 1945) is a 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 Junta of Na ...
and had eight children. According to Nicaraguan historian Roberto Sánchez, Murillo is maternally related to Nicaragua's national hero,
Augusto Sandino.
Murillo attended high school at the Greenway Convent Collegiate School in
Tiverton, Great Britain, and studied Art at the Institut Anglo-Suisse Le Manoir at
La Neuveville
La Neuveville (; german: Neuenstadt) is a municipality in the Jura bernois administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland, located in the French-speaking Bernese Jura (''Jura Bernois'').
History
La Neuveville is first mentioned ...
in Switzerland.
Murillo possesses certificates in the
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ...
and
French language
French ( or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages. French evolved from Gallo-Romance, the Latin spoken in Gaul, and more specifically in N ...
, granted respectively by the
University of Cambridge
, mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts.
Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge.
, established =
, other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...
in Great Britain. She also attended the
National Autonomous University of Nicaragua in her hometown, where she later became a language professor at the Instituto de Ciencias Comerciales and the Colegio Teresiano during 1967–1969.
Sandinista
Murillo joined the Sandinista National Liberation Front in 1969, and provided shelter in her house, which was located in the Barrio San José Oriental in
Managua
)
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, to
Sandinista guerrillas
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 ...
, among them
Tomás Borge, one of the founders of the FSLN.
During the early 1970s Murillo worked for
''La Prensa'' as a secretary to two of Nicaragua's leading political and literary figures,
Pedro Joaquin Chamorro The name Chamorro may be both a patronym and a matronym. In Spanish speaking countries, the patronym is usually followed by the matronym to more precisely identify an individual (See Iberian naming customs). In English speaking countries, the mat ...
and
Pablo Antonio Cuadra
Pablo Antonio Cuadra (November 4, 1912 – January 2, 2002) was a Nicaraguan essayist, art and literary critic, playwright, graphic artist and one of the most famous poets of Nicaragua.
Early life and career
Cuadra was born on November 4, 1912 in ...
. Murillo was arrested in
Estelí in 1976 for her activities in politics. Soon after, she fled and lived for several months in
Panama
Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Co ...
and
Venezuela
Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...
. She later moved to
Costa Rica
Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...
where she dedicated herself completely to her political work with the FSLN, helped start
Radio Sandino, and met her future husband, Daniel Ortega.
When the Sandinistas overthrew Somoza in 1979, she returned to Nicaragua. Murillo and Ortega were married in 2005.
Politics
Murillo started to gain power politically in 1998 after defending Ortega after he was accused by his stepdaughter, Zoilamérica Narváez Murrillo,
Murillo's daughter, of sexually abusing her for many years.
Murillo stated that the accusations were "a total falsehood"
and afterwards sided unconditionally with Ortega and publicly shunned her daughter who has still maintained that her accusations were true.
The case was thrown out by the Supreme Court in 2001 because the statute of limitations had expired.
Murillo helped re-brand Ortega after three unsuccessful election bids in
1990
File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicis ...
,
1996, and
2001 as a less extreme candidate. Ortega was elected president in
2006 and re-elected in
2011. In the
2016 general election Murillo ran as Ortega's
vice-presidential candidate. She is "widely seen as the power behind the presidency" according to
Al Jazeera
Al Jazeera ( ar, الجزيرة, translit-std=DIN, translit=al-jazīrah, , "The Island") is a state-owned Arabic-language international radio and TV broadcaster of Qatar. It is based in Doha and operated by the media conglomerate Al Jazee ...
's
Lucia Newman
Lucia Newman (born 18 February 1952 in London) is a broadcast journalist, currently working for Al Jazeera English. Previously, she was a long-standing reporter for CNN.
Career
Awards and acclaim
In 1991, she received the Maria Moors Cabot priz ...
.
Murillo appointed herself as "communications chief", a position which she used to address the public regularly before her vice-presidency.
During her term,
a series of protests broke out, resulting in 309 deaths by July 2018, some 25 of casualties being under the age of 17. Murillo and aide Néstor Moncada Lau were particularly targeted in an executive order issued by U.S. President
Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...
on 27 November 2018. This executive order is one of several sanctions placed against her and her husband's government by the United States since the unrest began.
Personal life
A
polyglot, she speaks
Spanish,
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ...
,
Italian and
French
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
; she also reads
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
. Rosario Murillo is
Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
* Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
* Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...
with strong
Marian veneration
Murillo defended Ortega when her daughter
Zoilamérica accused her stepfather Ortega of sexual abuse in the 1990s, which still affects her reputation with some Nicaraguans. Although Zoilamérica tried to pursue legal action, Ortega had immunity as a member of the
National Assembly
In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the r ...
.
Murillo has had a history of struggling with both alcohol and drug abuse. She is known for her
New Age
New Age is a range of spiritual or religious practices and beliefs which rapidly grew in Western society during the early 1970s. Its highly eclectic and unsystematic structure makes a precise definition difficult. Although many scholars consi ...
beliefs and practices.
In popular culture
Rosario Murillo is featured in the 2019 documentary film ''
Exiliada'', which revolves around her daughter,
Zoilamérica Narváez, and her sexual abuse complaints against Daniel Ortega.
Published works
*''Gualtayán'' (1975)
*''Sube a nacer conmigo'' (1977)
*''Un deber de cantar'' (1981)
*''Amar es combatir (antología)'' (1982)
*''En espléndidas ciudades'' (1985)
*''Las esperanzas misteriosas'' (1990)
*''Angel in the deluge'' (1992) translated from the Spanish by Alejandro Murguía.
References
Further reading
* Murillo, Rosario. "Intellectuals and the Sovereignty of the People." ''Contemporary Marxism'', no. 6 (1983): 183–92.
* Manupelli, George. "Aid to the Arts of Nicaragua." ''Leonardo'' 16, no. 2 (1983): 159–159. doi:10.2307/1574841.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Murillo, Rosario
1951 births
Living people
First Ladies of Nicaragua
Nicaraguan revolutionaries
Nicaraguan Roman Catholics
Catholic socialists
Nicaraguan Christian socialists
Nicaraguan women poets
20th-century Nicaraguan poets
People from Managua
Sandinista National Liberation Front politicians
People of the Nicaraguan Revolution
Women in war in Central America
Women in warfare post-1945
Communist women writers
Christian communists
Vice presidents of Nicaragua
Women vice presidents
20th-century Nicaraguan women writers
Female Christian socialists
National Autonomous University of Nicaragua alumni
21st-century Nicaraguan women politicians
21st-century Nicaraguan politicians