Pedro Joaquín Chamorro

Nicaraguan publisher

Also known as: Pedro Joaquim Chamorro Cardenal

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June 11, 2026

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Pedro Joaquín Chamorro Cardenal was a prominent Nicaraguan publisher and editor of the newspaper La Prensa. He was a vocal critic of the Somoza family dictatorship, which led to his family being forced into exile and his own repeated imprisonments. Chamorro's assassination in 1978 was a pivotal event that helped ignite the revolution which ultimately overthrew the Somoza regime. His wife, Violeta Barrios de Chamorro, later became president of Nicaragua.12

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Nicaragua
The Somoza years
… and the organization founded by Pedro Joaquín Chamorro, editor and publisher of La Prensa (“The Press”) of Managua, called the Democratic Union of Liberation (Unión Democrática de Liberación; UDEL). In December 1974 the Sandinistas staged a successful kidnapping of Somoza elites, for which ransom and the release of political prisoners…
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… and the organization founded by Pedro Joaquín Chamorro, editor and publisher of La Prensa (“The Press”) of Managua, called the Democratic Union of Liberation (Unión Democrática de Liberación; UDEL). In December 1974 the Sandinistas staged a successful kidnapping of Somoza elites, for which ransom and the release of political prisoners…
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Violeta Barrios de Chamorro
…to Nicaragua, where she married Pedro Joaquim Chamorro Cardenal, editor of the newspaper La Prensa, which was often critical of the Somoza family dictatorship. The Chamorros were forced into exile in 1957 and lived in Costa Rica for several years before returning to Nicaragua after the Somoza government declared an…
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…to Nicaragua, where she married Pedro Joaquim Chamorro Cardenal, editor of the newspaper La Prensa, which was often critical of the Somoza family dictatorship. The Chamorros were forced into exile in 1957 and lived in Costa Rica for several years before returning to Nicaragua after the Somoza government declared an…
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