Daniel Ortega (born 1945) joined the revolutionary Sandinista National Liberation Front (Frente Sandinista de Liberación National--FSLN) in 1963, helped lead its overthrow of the Somoza dynasty, and was elected president of Nicaragua on November 4, 1984.

Daniel Ortega Saavedra was born on November 11, 1945, in the mining and ranching town of La Libertad, Nicaragua, in the municipality of Chontales. He was the third son of Daniel Ortega Serda, an accountant for a mining firm. The family later moved to Managua, where his father owned a small export-import business.

Ortega received his education in private and Catholic schools. He was an active Catholic during his youth, becoming a catechist and giving Bible studies to those who lived in poor neighborhoods. His seriousness, intelligence, oratorical skills, and religious devotion suggested to many that he would become a priest. He made good grades, but his parents sent him to four different high schools--trying fruitlessly...