Aguas Santas Ocaña Navarro (born 23 April 1963) is a former first lady of

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Oce ...

Marriage and first lady

Ocaña Navarro was the wife of former

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

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 Tegucigalpa (, , ), formally Tegucigalpa, Municipality of the Central District ( es, Tegucigalpa, Municipio del Distrito Central or ''Tegucigalpa, M.D.C.''), and colloquially referred to as ''Tegus'' or ''Teguz'', is the capital and largest city ...

. She received dual Spanish-Honduran citizenship in 2004. Her marriage to Maduro ended in divorce in 2006 as Maduro's term in office came to a close. Bush explains history of White House desk

Bush explains history of White House desk

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 Hurricane Mitch is the second-deadliest Atlantic hurricane on record, causing over 11,000 fatalities in Central America in 1998, including approximately 7,000 in Honduras and 3,800 in Nicaragua due to cataclysmic flooding from the slow motion ...

, which had devastated Honduras in 1998. She legally adopted two

child A child ( : children) is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The legal definition of ''child'' generally refers to a minor, otherwise known as a person young ...

ren, but she now has 13 children in her care, all of whom accompanied her to

Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the coun ...

on 27 January 2006, the day she ceased being first lady. She worked there with Nicaraguan children in need, and helped the wife of Nicaragua's then President,

Enrique Bolaños Enrique José Bolaños Geyer (; 13 May 1928 – 14 June 2021) was a Nicaraguan politician who served as President of Nicaragua from 10 January 2002 to 10 January 2007. From 1997 to 2002, Bolaños served as vice president under Arnoldo Alemán ...

. 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 child Street children are poor or homeless children who live on the streets of a city, town, or village. Homeless youth are often called street kids or street child; the definition of street children is contested, but many practitioners and polic ...

ren 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 Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studi ...

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 The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, p ...

to lure prospective clients.

References

External links

Information on Aguas Santas Ocaña Navarro
(in Spanish)
Website of El Hogar de Niños de Emanuel in San Pedro Sula
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ocana Navarro, Aguas Santas 1963 births Living people People from Vega del Guadalquivir First ladies and gentlemen of Honduras Spanish women in politics Naturalised citizens of Honduras Spanish diplomats Complutense University of Madrid alumni Spanish emigrants to Nicaragua