Founder, Publisher of El Nuevo Diario Dies at 75

MANAGUA – The founder-publisher of the daily El Nuevo Diario, Xavier Chamorro Cardenal, died Jan. 4 after a long cardiac illness, family sources announced. He was 75.

Chamorro, brother-in-law of Nicaraguan ex-President Violeta Barrios de Chamorro, had suffered from heart problems for four months and in his final days his health had deteriorated, said Francisco Chamorro, son and assistant publisher of El Nuevo Diario. The newspaper’s founder was born Dec. 31, 1932, in Managua, where he lived until his last days.

Chamorro was the closest associate of his brother, journalist Pedro Joaquin Chamorro Cardenal, the publisher of the daily La Prensa who was murdered on Jan. 10, 1978 by gunmen linked to dictator Anastasio Somoza.

After the assassination of Pedro Joaquin, Xavier took over the management of La Prensa together with doctor and journalist Danilo Aguirre Solis.

Nonetheless, in May 1980, Xavier Chamorro, Aguirre Solis and close to 85% of La Prensa employees decided to leave the newspaper in support of the Sandinista government, which took power a year earlier, and founded El Nuevo Diario.

Chamorro leaves five children: Francisco, Margarita, Gabriel, Ana Maria and Juan Sebastian Chamorro Garcia.