RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Economist Juan Sebastián Chamorro, nephew-in-law of former Nicaraguan President Violeta Barrios de Chamorro (1990-1997), launched this Thursday, April 22, his pre-candidacy for the Presidency of Nicaragua for the general elections of next November.
Chamorro, who was Vice Minister of Finance and Public Credit and Secretary of Coordination and Strategy in the Government of Enrique Bolaños (2002-2007), formally registered his pre-candidacy with the Citizens’ Alliance, one of the main opposition coalitions, in a Managua hotel heavily guarded by police officers.
The Citizens’ Alliance is made up of the Citizens for Liberty (CxL, center-right) party and the Civic Alliance for Justice and Democracy organization, which was the counterpart of Daniel Ortega’s government at the negotiating tables seeking a peaceful solution to the socio-political crisis that erupted in April 2018.
Chamorro, who resigned last January from his position as executive director of the Civic Alliance to devote time to his presidential aspirations, focused his speech on making a call for unity to the various opposition forces to defeat Ortega at the polls.
“We must be clear that only with unity and the massive vote we will write a new stage of our history”, said the politician, for whom “only united we can win the next elections”.
“FROM DICTATORSHIP TO DEMOCRACY”.
Chamorro García said he is convinced that he can be the president who can lead Nicaragua “from dictatorship to democracy” and constitute a government that prioritizes peace and stability, and at the same time, promotes economic growth that generates jobs.
“Other priorities of my government will be to restore public liberties, consolidate respect for human rights and promote social progress,” he said.
The opposition leader said he wants to be the president who unites the country, which involves the whole society in a shared project that looks towards the future and “promotes the reconciliation that our society needs to achieve the change and modernization of our beloved Nicaragua”.
On the other hand, he explained that he registered his pre-candidacy in the Alianza Ciudadana because this is his “home”. He helped build the Alianza Cívica, to which he belongs, and “because its program and objectives coincide” with what he defends.
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Also, because he is “convinced that they will do everything necessary to concretize the unity of the majority of opposition organizations”, because “only united” they will be able to “defeat Ortega in the next elections”.
He declared himself convinced that the CxL box “will be the one that will unite the majority of the Nicaraguan opposition”.
Likewise, he signed a commitment with the Civic Alliance in which he pledged not to run in another electoral option if he does not turn out to be the candidate and will support whoever is selected.
FIVE CHAMORRO HAVE BEEN PRESIDENTS
Chamorro has a degree in Economics from the University of San Francisco, a master’s degree in Economics from Georgetown University, and a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, all in the United States.
From 2014 to 2019 he directed the non-governmental Nicaraguan Foundation for Economic and Social Development (Funides), an independent think tank. He was also director of the U.S. Millennium Challenge Account program in Nicaragua.
He is the nephew of former President Barrios de Chamorro and journalist and national hero Pedro Joaquín Chamorro, who was assassinated in 1978 for criticizing President and dictator Anastasio Somoza Debayle.
He belongs to a family of Nicaraguan notables that has provided five Presidents of the Republic in its nearly 200 years of independence, according to the Chamorro family biography, published in “In Biographies and Lives. The online biographical encyclopedia”, published in Barcelona.
His cousin, journalist Cristiana Chamorro, also aspires to the Presidency.