Early life

Leal was born in Nicaragua

Nicaragua

Nicaragua is the largest country in the Central American American isthmus, bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The country is situated between 11 and 14 degrees north of the Equator in the Northern Hemisphere, which places it entirely within the tropics. The Pacific Ocean...

's capital Managua

Managua

Managua is the capital city of Nicaragua as well as the department and municipality by the same name. It is the largest city in Nicaragua in terms of population and geographic size. Located on the southwestern shore of Lake Xolotlán or Lake Managua, the city was declared the national capital in...

. He became a civil engineer

Civil engineering

Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including works like roads, bridges, canals, dams, and buildings...

 by profession, but was interested in politics since his youth. He graduated from the Universidad Centroamericana (UCA) in Nicaragua, and the Georgia Institute of Technology

Georgia Institute of Technology

The Georgia Institute of Technology is a public research university in Atlanta, Georgia, in the United States...

 in Atlanta, Georgia

Georgia (U.S. state)

Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...

.

In 1979 he supported the Sandinista revolution and became deputy Minister of Industry, but resigned in 1981 and became a critic of the government. He married Carolina Medal and than remarried Gioconda Padilla Godoy and had 3 children, Ernesto Leal Medal, Carolina Leal Medal, and Clarissa Leal Medal.

In 1990 he founded the Nicaraguan Democratic Movement

Nicaraguan Democratic Movement

The Nicaraguan Democratic Movement is a right-wing Nicaraguan political party with social democratic ideology. The MDN was formed in 1978 and re-registered in 1989. MDN was the first Contra party given legal status in Nicaragua. After receiving a small amount of votes, the MDN lost its legal...

 and supported the election of President Violeta Chamorro

Violeta Chamorro

Violeta Barrios Torres de Chamorro is a Nicaraguan political leader, former president and publisher. She became president of Nicaragua on April 25, 1990, when she unseated Daniel Ortega...

. He served as deputy foreign minister in her government from 1990 to 1992 and as foreign minister

Foreign minister

A Minister of Foreign Affairs, or foreign minister, is a cabinet minister who helps form the foreign policy of a sovereign state. The foreign minister is often regarded as the most senior ministerial position below that of the head of government . It is often granted to the deputy prime minister in...

 of Nicaragua from 1992 to 1997. He was a strong supporter of stronger relations with other Central America

Central America

Central America is the central geographic region of the Americas. It is the southernmost, isthmian portion of the North American continent, which connects with South America on the southeast. When considered part of the unified continental model, it is considered a subcontinent...

n countries.

In 2002, when Enrique Bolaños

Enrique Bolaños

Enrique José Bolaños Geyer was the President of Nicaragua from 10 January 2002 to 10 January 2007. President Bolaños is of Spanish and German heritage and was born in Masaya ....

 was elected president, Leal became one of his top aides, and became presidential chief of staff in November 2004. In 2005 he led government talks with leftist and rightest parties over constitutional changes that were to weaken the powers of the president.

Death

Leal became ill with a rare case of pneumonia

Pneumonia

Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...

 early in December 2005 and was sent to the United States for medical treatment. He spent three weeks at Mount Sinai Hospital in Miami, Florida

Miami, Florida

Miami is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States with a population of 2,500,625...

but eventually died there of his illness.