FILE - In this Sept. 17, 1989 file photo, Nicaraguan presidential candidate Violeta Chamorro raises her arms as she receives a warm welcome from some 2,000 Nicaraguan exiles who turned out in Miami for a rally and independence day celebration. Chamorro's family put out a statement on Oct. 1, 2018 that the former president has been hospitalized in Managua, Nicaragua where she is in "delicate condition" after a stroke. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens, File)

MANAGUA, Nicaragua (AP) — Former Nicaraguan President Violeta Barrios de Chamorro was in "delicate condition" in a Managua hospital early Tuesday after suffering a cerebral embolism, her family said.

A statement from her family said the 88-year-old Chamorro, Nicaragua's first female president, was taken to the Vivian Pellas Metropolitan Hospital and put in intensive care. It said she had a "cerebral accident."

The family said late Monday that it would keep people informed of her state of health but asked the media to respect its privacy.

Chamorro was thrust into politics by her husband's assassination and stunned the world in 1990 by ousting the ruling Sandinista party led by Daniel Ortega in presidential elections. As president, she helped end the country's civil war. She governed Nicaragua until 1997.

Chamorro moved away from public life in 2011, when it became known that she suffered from a brain tumor.