Carmen Castro Padilla was born in Managua, Nicaragua on the 14th of March in 1951. Her father, Jose Marcelino Castro (R.I.P.), who was in charge of Accounting for the newspaper La Prensa, and her mother, Salvadora Padilla, formed a home in the old neighborhood San Sebastian and had 6 children: Wilfredo, Carmen, Camilo, Gloria, Maria Lourdes y Fidel.
Carmen studied at El Colegio Nuestra Señora Del Rosario in the city of Esteli, and in the Escuela Nacional de Comercio she received her title of Accountant.
Carmen migrated to the United States in 1985 and originally lived in the city of San Francisco, California. In 1989 she relocated to Southern California and the offices of C. Castro and Associates was formed with her brother Camilo Castro.
Carmen stood out in developing her accounting business due to her long work hours, honesty, tenacity and strong character.
Carmen was also a fundamental pillar in the formation of the Abandoned Children in Nicaragua Foundation—an organization formed by Nicaraguan citizens in Southern California with the objective to benefit the children in the street in Nicaragua.
On Tuesday, August 20, 2002, while Carmen found herself in her office C. Castro & Associates in the city of La Puente, California, 3 gang members, armed, entered her office with the objective to steal the money that was being collected in a container (3 feet high by 2 feet wide) for the Foundation to be used for the construction of a protection center for needy children in Sabana Grande, Nicaragua. During the robbery, Carmen was cowardly assassinated in cold blood, being converted into a martyr for the cause of the needy children in Nicaragua.
The board of directors of the Abandoned Children in Nicaragua Foundation, Inc. made a resolution to dedicate in her honor the “Nicaraguan Toy Drive 2002” event and that the first Child Protection Center would be baptized in her name “Carmen Castro Padilla” which was constructed close to Sabana Grande and whose inauguration was October 19, 2003.
