Xiomara Castro de Zelaya
| Xiomara Castro | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| First Lady of Honduras | |
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In office 27 January 2006 – 28 June 2009 |
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| Preceded by | Aguas Ocaña |
| Succeeded by | Siomara Girón |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Iris Xiomara Castro Sarmiento September 30, 1959 Santa Bárbara, Honduras |
| Political party | Libertad y Refundación |
| Spouse(s) | Manuel Zelaya (m. 1976) |
Iris Xiomara Castro de Zelaya or simply Xiomara Castro (born September 30, 1959) is a Honduran politician. She was an unsuccessful candidate for the 2013 presidential election representing the left-wing Libre Party. The wife of deposed former President Manuel Zelaya, Castro was a leader of the movement resisting the 2009 Honduran coup d'état that ousted her husband from power prematurely.
The second of five children, she attended primary and secondary school in Tegucigalpa at the San Jose del Carmen Institute and the Maria Auxiliadora Institute, respectively, and she earned a degree in Business Administration without attending university.
In January 1976, Xiomara married Manuel Zelaya. Immediately after the wedding, they made their home in Catacamas, Olancho.
She played an active part in the "Association of Spouses of Members of the Rotary Club of Catacamas" as well as the activities developed within the group to take care of the children in need in the Olancho department. She took part in the creation of the "Centro de Cuidado Diurno para Niños en Catacamas" (Children's Daily Care Center in Catacamas), with the aim of offering assistance to single-parent families led by women including through the creation of projects of basic cleaning, sowing of vegetables and floriculture, as important projects of job development.
In Catacamas, Castro organized the women's branch of the Liberal Party of Honduras and conducted a strong campaign in favor of her husband in the internal elections of February 2005, an occasion in which she was in charge of sub-political coordination of Catacamas.
As First Lady of Honduras, Castro was in charge of social development programs, and she worked with the United Nations in coalition with other first ladies to address issues faced by women with HIV.
Following the removal of her husband in the June 28, 2009 coup d'état, Castro led the movement resisting the coup d'état, repeatedly joining thousands of Hondurans in the streets calling for Zelaya's return. This movement became known as the National Front of Popular Resistance (FNRP) and formed the basis for the political party Libre. Castro joined her husband in the Brazilian embassy, where he had taken refuge after returning to Honduras before reaching a negotiation with the de facto regime.
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