She was the first child of Segundo Astorga, a lumber exporter and rancher with connections to the powerful ruling Somoza family, and his wife Mierrel Gadea.

In 1967, Astorga announced to her family's dismay that she supported Fernando Agüero, not his opponent Anastasio Somoza Debayle, in the presidential election.

During this time, Astorga led a double life as a mother of two and a corporate lawyer for one of Nicaragua's largest construction companies, while clandestinely aiding the Sandinistas.

After the assassination of newspaper editor Pedro Chamorro in 1978, Astorga decided to take up arms against the Somoza regime.

"[3] She gained national attention for her participation in the botched kidnapping and murder of General Reynaldo Pérez Vega (nicknamed "El Perro," or "the dog").

[5] On March 8, 1978, Astorga invited the general to her apartment in Managua, hinting to him that the sexual favors he had long sought would be granted.

[6] When he arrived, however, three members of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) — Hilario Sánchez (1953-1983), Raúl "El Zorro" Venerio Granera (1945-2019) and Walter Ferreti (1956-1988) — burst out of her bedroom closet and seized the general.

The plan was to ransom him for jailed Sandinista revolutionaries, but Pérez Vega put up a struggle and was murdered.

[8] In 1984, her appointment as ambassador to the United States was refused by the Reagan administration because of her involvement in the killing of General Reynaldo Pérez Vega.

[9] Astorga became a deputy representative to the United Nations in 1984, and in March 1986, became the Nicaraguan ambassador to that body, a position she held until her death in 1988.

[11] KBC members Jack Casady and Paul Kantner played this song at her memorial service.