Chronicle of a Death Foretold

Santiago Nasar

The hapless victim of a brutal murder.

The Narrator

A good friend of Santiago Nasar, and also a local. Though he didn't directly witness Santiago's murder at the hands of Pedro and Pablo Vicario, he remains haunted by the crime for many years.

Angela Vicario

The bride of Bayardo San Roman, who accuses Santiago Nasar of taking her virginity. After being returned home on her wedding night, she discovers that she's in love with Bayardo, and, later on, begins sending him one letter a week for 17 years.

Bayardo San Román

A wealthy outsider to the town who falls in love with Angela Vicario, but after discovering her lack of virginity on their wedding night he returns her to her family and falls into a deep depression.

Pedro Vicario

The younger of the Vicario twins by six minutes. By the Narrator's reckoning, he is more sentimental than his brother, but also more authoritarian. He served in the military for a few years, where he picked up a bossy nature and gonorrhoea. When the twins learn of their sister Angela's lack of virginity, he is the first to suggest that they kill Santiago Nasar.

Pablo Vicario

Though technically older, he behaves like a younger brother to his twin, following his commands and displaying overall a more "imaginative" character. When his brother served in the military, he remained at home, caring for the family and working as a butcher. Despite his submissive tendencies, he is the one who insists the brothers persist in their murderous intentions after Colonel Lázaro Aponte takes away their knives.

The Visiting Magistrate

Summoned by an overwhelmed Lázaro Aponte to investigate the murder. He is a recent graduate from law school and is struck by the number of fateful coincidences that led to the killing of Santiago Nasar.

Cristo Bedoya

A medical student, is Santiago Nasar's best friend. He is with him on the morning of the murder, but doesn't learn of Pedro and Pablo Vicario's plan until he and Santiago have parted ways.

Plácida Linero

Santiago Nasar's mother and Ibrahim Nasar's widow. She claims to have the gift of foresight, and is a skilled interpreter of dreams. However, she fails to foresee her son's murder.

Ibrahim Nasar

Santiago's deceased father. He was an Arab immigrant who became a fairly successful rancher.

Victoria Guzmán

The cook for the Nasar household. Ibrahim Nasar seduced her when she was young, and now she is determined to keep her daughter, Divina Flor, from being seduced by Santiago Nasar. She knows about Pablo and Pedro's intentions but declines to warn Santiago.

Divina Flor

The adolescent daughter of Victoria Guzman. Her mother is afraid that she'll be seduced by Santiago Nasar like she was by his father.

Purísima del Carmen Vicario (Pura Vicario)

Angela Vicario's mother. She is extremely conservative and rigorous in her parenting, especially when it comes to her daughters.

Poncio Vicario

Angela Vicario's father. He is a retired goldsmith and, by the time of the events described in the novel, he has gone almost completely blind.

María Alejandrina Cervantes

A local woman who owns a brothel. The Narrator claims that she singlehandedly "did away with [his] generation's virginity." She is both the Narrator's and Santiago Nasar's first love. The Narrator is sleeping in her bed when Santiago is murdered.

General Petronio San Román

Bayardo's father. He is a famous war hero—a veteran of the civil wars—and an important member of the ruling Conservative regime. He is extraordinarily wealthy.

Alberta Simonds

Bayardo San Román's mother and General Petronio San Román's wife. She is from Curaçao, and was once known as the most beautiful woman in the Antilles.

Clotilde Armante

The proprietor of a milk shop on the main square of the town. It is in this shop that Pablo and Pedro Vicario wait for Santiago Nasar to appear from his house across the square.

Margot

The Narrator's sister. She invites Santiago over for breakfast on the morning of the murder, not yet knowing that he will soon be killed.

Flora Miguel

Santiago's fiancee, she is the daughter of Nahir Miguel, the wise man in the local Arab community. She gives Santiago back all of his letters that he wrote her when she hears about the murder plot. She believes that the Vicario brothers won't kill Santiago, but make him marry Angela to give back her honor.

Colonel Lázaro Aponte

The mayor of the town. He confiscates Pedro and Pablo Vicario's knives and tells them to go home. He believes this has solved the issue, but the twins simply return home to get new ones.

Father Carmen Amador

The local priest. He is the first person to whom Pedro and Pablo Vicario confess. He also performs Santiago Nasar's autopsy.

The Narrator's Mother

She is both Santiago Nasar's godmother and a relative of Angela Vicario. She attempts to warn Santiago's mother, Plácida Linero, about the impending murder, but fails to reach her in time.

Nahir Miguel

Flora's father and the wise man of the local Arab community.

The Widower Xius

An old man who lives in the most beautiful house in town, which he reluctantly sells to Bayardo San Román.

Mercedes Barcha

The Narrator's wife. She is just a young girl at the time of the murder.

Indalecio Pardo

One of Santiago Nasar's good friends. He has a chance to warn Santiago on the morning of the murder, but loses his nerve and says nothing.

Luis Enrique, Jaime, Margot, the Nun

The narrator's siblings