- Aguas Santas Ocaña Navarro
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Aguas Ocaña First Lady of Honduras In office
October 8, 2002 – January 27, 2006Preceded by Mary Flake de Flores Succeeded by Xiomara Castro Personal details Born Aguas Santas Ocaña Navarro
April 23, 1963
Brenes, Seville, SpainSpouse(s) Ricardo Maduro (m. 2002) Aguas Santas Ocaña Navarro (born April 23, 1963 in Brenes, Seville, Spain) was the first lady of Honduras. Aguas Santas, her double given name, means "holy waters" in Spanish.
Contents
Marriage and first lady
Ocaña Navarro was the wife of former President Ricardo Maduro, marrying him when he was already President in October 2002 after meeting him during a 2 year stint working in the Spanish embassy in Tegucigalpa. She received dual Spanish-Honduran citizenship in 2004.
On the right, with Maduro (second from left) and Presidents of Central America and the United States.
Working with and adoption of children
In January 2003, Aguas Santas visited El Hogar de Niños Emanuel in San Pedro Sula, along with several executives of Spanish corporations operating factories in that city. They were hoping to raise awareness for the orphans remaining in many orphanages as a result of Hurricane Mitch, which had devastated Honduras in 1998.
She legally adopted two children, but she now has 13 children in her care, all of whom accompanied her to Nicaragua on January 27, 2006, the day she ceased being first lady. She will work there with Nicaraguan children in need, and will help the wife of Nicaragua's President Enrique Bolaños. The five children legally adopted are called Leidy Jackeline, Kevin Josué, Francis, Joan and Jackie.
As first lady of Honduras she was particularly known for her work with Street children and visiting jailmates. She created a program, "Cero Niños en las Calles", which is geared towards eliminating children working in Honduras' streets. This program has been severely criticized by her husband's political opponents. Ocaña Navarro continues fighting for children's rights, by denouncing a U.S.-based organisation that was allegedly involved in the selling of adoptive children by using the internet to lure prospective clients.
Domestic life
During 2003, Ocaña Navarro returned to live in Spain for a short period of time, sparking rumours that she and her husband were about to divorce. The separation was allegedly provoked because Ricardo Maduro named a former girlfriend, Mireya Batres, to be Honduras' Minister of Culture. Batres was sacked and she returned.
In 2004. Ocaña Navarro travelled to Los Angeles, California, in the United States, where she befriended Tom Cruise and John Travolta, celebrity members of the Scientology religion. She made them promise to pay a visit to Honduras, so that they could raise awareness among Scientologists about the poor conditions in which many Hondurans live.
When she returned to Spain in 2004 she was pursued by paparazzi. She declared that she was there to visit political personalities in order to try to gather charitable aid for Honduras' poorest from the Spanish government.
On December 17, 2005 she protagonized a scandal at the Presidential House of Honduras when her husband, Ricardo Maduro, President of Honduras invited members of the press to a Christmas lunch. Aguas Ocaña took the podium and invited the journalist Ninfa Arias to leave the Presidential House because of a dispute they had about an article published on the newspaper (El Heraldo).
She announced the end of her marriage to Maduro to Hola magazine on January 25, 2006, two days before the end of her term as first lady. After that the local press has referred to her as a gold digger.
External links
Categories:- 1963 births
- Living people
- People from Seville (province)
- First Ladies of Honduras
- Spanish women in politics
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