Behind every great despot, is a despot housewife. As the world's tyrannical leaders descend upon New York Wednesday for the U.N. General Assembly.
Parvin Ahmadinejad
Parvin Ahmadinejad is very rarely seen even when beheld in public, as her hard-line husband follows a strict form of Islam that requires women to wear a full-body hijab. In fact, almost nothing is known about Mrs. Ahmadinejad -- her age, her schooling, her sign of the Zodiac --because she stands quietly by in a conservative Muslim theocracy, where women are raped the night before executions and face up to 80 lashes for refusing to cover their hair.
Rosario Murillo
Rosario Murillo may just have a sinister cover-up that makes the lurid affairs of Wisteria Lane look like harmless trysts. Murillo, the wife of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, reportedly tried to stop an ugly family affair from going public when Ortega's adopted stepdaughter accused him of sexually abusing her from the time she was 11. Murillo was quick to dismiss the allegations -- sticking by her husband's denials -- even as the Nicaraguan leader's own loyalists murmured that the charges were true.
Safia Qaddafi
A former nurse, Safia Qaddafi is by all appearances a mild-mannered woman -- but don't let that fool you. The wife of Libyan leader Muammar al-Qaddafi vowed to seek vengeance on all Americans following the 1986 U.S. air strike on Libya, which reportedly killed Qaddafi's infant daughter. Mrs. Qaddafi called for Ronald Reagan to get the death penalty, and said she'd kill the U.S. bomber pilot with her bare hands if she could. Her wish -- and her husband's -- was carried out on Dec. 21, 1988, when Pan AM flight 103 exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 270 people -- mostly Americans. The Libyan government formerly accepted responsibility for the bombing in 2002.
Marisabel Rodriguez
Marisabel Rodriguez insists she doesn't have a personal vendetta, but the second wife of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez went for the jugular when she tried to strip her ex-husband of his power -- and take the job for herself. The power-thirsty Rodriguez stepped into the spotlight in 2007 to challenge her ex-husband's socialist regime -- blasting it as a "road straight to totalitarianism" -- and called the Venezuelan strongman a communist. She says she doesn't know how Chavez can speak so casually about chewing mind-altering cocoa leaves -- the base of cocaine -- and said the dictator needs to "calm down" when it comes to visitation rights with their daughter.
Grace Mugabe
Zimbabwe's first lady Grace Mugabe also holds the title of 'first shopper' -- 'Gucci Grace' -- infamous for going on shopping sprees reportedly paid for through slush funds totaling millions of dollars. But don't cross Grace. Bobby Mugabe's second wife -- who formerly held the titles of secretary and mistress -- also has a temper, displayed earlier this year when she pounded a Times of London photog -- with a Jimmy Choo-style bag and a fist full of diamonds.
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Parvin Ahmadinejad
Parvin Ahmadinejad is very rarely seen even when beheld in public, as her hard-line husband follows a strict form of Islam that requires women to wear a full-body hijab. In fact, almost nothing is known about Mrs. Ahmadinejad -- her age, her schooling, her sign of the Zodiac --because she stands quietly by in a conservative Muslim theocracy, where women are raped the night before executions and face up to 80 lashes for refusing to cover their hair.
Rosario Murillo
Rosario Murillo may just have a sinister cover-up that makes the lurid affairs of Wisteria Lane look like harmless trysts. Murillo, the wife of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, reportedly tried to stop an ugly family affair from going public when Ortega's adopted stepdaughter accused him of sexually abusing her from the time she was 11. Murillo was quick to dismiss the allegations -- sticking by her husband's denials -- even as the Nicaraguan leader's own loyalists murmured that the charges were true.
Safia Qaddafi
A former nurse, Safia Qaddafi is by all appearances a mild-mannered woman -- but don't let that fool you. The wife of Libyan leader Muammar al-Qaddafi vowed to seek vengeance on all Americans following the 1986 U.S. air strike on Libya, which reportedly killed Qaddafi's infant daughter. Mrs. Qaddafi called for Ronald Reagan to get the death penalty, and said she'd kill the U.S. bomber pilot with her bare hands if she could. Her wish -- and her husband's -- was carried out on Dec. 21, 1988, when Pan AM flight 103 exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 270 people -- mostly Americans. The Libyan government formerly accepted responsibility for the bombing in 2002.
Marisabel Rodriguez
Marisabel Rodriguez insists she doesn't have a personal vendetta, but the second wife of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez went for the jugular when she tried to strip her ex-husband of his power -- and take the job for herself. The power-thirsty Rodriguez stepped into the spotlight in 2007 to challenge her ex-husband's socialist regime -- blasting it as a "road straight to totalitarianism" -- and called the Venezuelan strongman a communist. She says she doesn't know how Chavez can speak so casually about chewing mind-altering cocoa leaves -- the base of cocaine -- and said the dictator needs to "calm down" when it comes to visitation rights with their daughter.
Grace Mugabe
Zimbabwe's first lady Grace Mugabe also holds the title of 'first shopper' -- 'Gucci Grace' -- infamous for going on shopping sprees reportedly paid for through slush funds totaling millions of dollars. But don't cross Grace. Bobby Mugabe's second wife -- who formerly held the titles of secretary and mistress -- also has a temper, displayed earlier this year when she pounded a Times of London photog -- with a Jimmy Choo-style bag and a fist full of diamonds.
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