Word: anastasios
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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When the Marines withdrew in 1933, they left behind a "non-partisan constabulary force" of local recruits organized, trained and supplied by the U.S. Because of his facility in the English language, Anastasio Somoza, an ambitious Nicaraguan officer, was designated to command this National Guard. One of Somoza's first actions was to order the execution of Sandino, who naively believed his struggle was at an end. With this action Somoza cleared the way for his own political ascension, based on the military force and diplomatic support granted to him by the U.S. Somoza I--there are several in this...
...massacre at Varilla two months ago was not unique, according to a pastoral letter by Nicaragua's Roman Catholic bishops. The letter, which has not been published because of government censorship, was read from pulpits in January. It accuses President Anastasio ("Tachito") Somoza Debayle's National Guard of subjecting innocent peasants to "inhuman" abuse "ranging from torture and rape to summary execution" during the government's two-year drive against leftist guerrillas. The bishops buttressed their charges with testimony from rural missionaries-who claim that dead and kidnaped campesinos number in the hundreds...
...Named for Augusto Cesar Sandino, a guerrilla leader who fought against occupying U.S. Marines in the late 1920s and was executed in 1934 by the founder of Nicaragua's ruling dynasty, Tachito's father Anastasio ("Tacho") Somoza Garcia...
What drove him into hiding? In one of his rare meetings with outsiders, at Managua, Nicaragua, in 1971, he offered an explanation to former U.S. Ambassador to Nicaragua Shelton Turner and Strongman Anastasio Somoza. "I was working on inventions, but calls and visitors kept interrupting me," he said. "I told my aides to cut down on appointments and calls. It was very gradual, but finally I realized I was not seen seeing anyone." Laughing, Hughes added, "I probably carried...
Nicaragua is even more extreme than the general case, for here is a dynasty, the Somoza family, has dominated the country for over 40 years and cornered wealth and power to an extent considered extreme even by Latin American standards. The dynasty's founder. Anastasio Somoza Garcia, took power in 1933 with the help of United States Marines and held it until he was assassinated in 1956. Since then, his two sons have taken turns as president and commander of the National Guard. Nicaragua's euphemistically named combination army and secret police force, which the United States aids and helps...