Sergio Ramírez

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Sergio Ramírez Mercado (b.5th August 1942 in Masatepe, Nicaragua) is a leading Nicaraguan writer and intellectual who served in the Government Junta of National Reconstruction and as vice-president of the country 1984-1990 (under the presidency of Daniel Ortega).

Born in Masatepe in 1942, he published his first book, Cuentos, in 1963. He graduated from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Nicaragua of León in 1964, where he obtained the Gold Medal for being the best student.

In 1977 Ramírez became head of the "Group of Twelve", a group of prominent intellectuals, priests, businesspeople, and members of civil society who publicly stated their support for the Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional (FSLN) in its struggle to topple the dictatorship of Anastasio Somoza Debayle. With the triumph of the Revolution in 1979, he became part of the Junta of the Government of National Reconstruction, where he presided over the National Council of Education. He was elected vice-president of Nicaragua in 1984.

Though the FSLN lost power to the UNO coalition headed by Violeta Barrios de Chamorro in 1990, Ramírez continued to serve as the leader of the Sandinista block in the National Assembly until 1995, when he founded the Movimiento de Renovación Sandinista (MRS) because of his differences with other leaders of the FSLN, such as former president Daniel Ortega, on issues of democratic reform. He has since become retrospectively critical of certain Sandinista policies that he views as having turned the country against the FSLN. He made an unsuccessful bid for president on the MRS ticket in 1996. Since then, Ramírez has retired definitively from politics. He currently lives in Managua, Nicaragua.

He married his wife, Gertrudis "Tulita" Guerrero Mayorga, in 1964. He has three children: Sergio, Maria, and Dorel and 6 Grandchildren: Elianne, Carlos Fernando, Camila, Alejandro, Luciana and Andres.

Even during his years in politics, Sergio Ramírez continued to publish his work, for which he has won numerous awards and distinctions. His books include: