| “ | "Not pass! The diabolical will never be able to govern Nicaragua” | „ |
| ~ Rosario Murillo |
|
Rosario Maria Murillo Zambrana (Spanish pronunciation: [roˈsaɾjo muˈɾiʝo]; born June 22, 1951) is the vice president and first lady of Nicaragua. She is married to the current president Daniel Ortega. She was also first lady when, in 1985, her husband became president six years after the Sandinista National Liberation Front overthrew the Somoza dynasty. 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.
Rosario Murillo was born in Managua, Nicaragua. She married Daniel Ortega and had eight children. According to Nicaraguan historian Roberto Sánchez, Murillo is maternally related to Nicaragua's national hero, Augusto César Sandino.
Personal Life
Murillo joined the Sandinista National Liberation Front in 1969. She provided shelter in her house, which was located in the Barrio San José Oriental in Managua, to Sandinista guerrillas, 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 and Pablo Antonio Cuadra. Murillo was arrested in Estelí in 1976 for her activities in politics. Soon after, she fled and lived for several months in Panama and Venezuela. She later moved to Costa Rica 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 Anastasio Somoza Debayle in 1979, she returned to Nicaragua. Murillo and Ortega were married in 2005.
Murillo defended Ortega when her daughter Zoilamérica Ortega Murillo 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. Although when he found out about it, he accused Daniel of being sick. The relationship with her eldest daughter was never good, Rosario never showed signs of attachment to her daughter, whom she saw as a hindrance, in 1983, she contacted her daughter, telling her that she was ruining her life and that of her brothers, and suggested that she go to Cuba. She blamed her for the situation and her solution was to send her abroad so that Daniel Ortega would leave her alone and she, in turn, would leave her and her family alone. in September 1990 she even threw her daughter out of the presidential villa while she was undergoing rehabilitation after an operation.
Politics
Murillo started to gain power politically in 1998 after defending Ortega after he was accused by his stepdaughter, Murillo's daughter, of sexually abusing her for many years. Murillo stated that the accusations were "a total falsehood." 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, 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's Lucia Newman. Murillo appointed herself as "communications chief", a position which she used to address the public regularly before her vice-presidency.
Currently she and her husband control with a tight grip, and their regime is under scrutiny as the police and paramilitary groups linked with the government have killed more than 250 civilians, many of them students and children.
Murillo has had a history of struggling with both alcohol and drug abuse. She is known for her New Age beliefs and practices.