Word: junta
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Somoza's resignation followed weeks of complicated negotiations between his decaying regime, the U.S. and the five-man junta that the rebels had named as Nicaragua's provisional government. At first, Somoza stalled, apparently hoping that his powerfully armed 12,000-member national guard might still reverse the tide of battle. But by the beginning of last week even Somoza could see that further resistance was futile. He agreed to the rebel junta's plan for turning over power to the new regime. The first step would be for Somoza to resign and leave the country...
Though it frequently indulged in anti-American rhetoric, the junta proved flexible enough to allay most of Washington's fears. The junta appointed a 15-member Cabinet dominated by moderates, which satisfied American insistence that the new regime should represent all shades of Nicaraguan political opinion. Among its members are Corporate Lawyer Joachin Cuadra Chamorro, Carlos Tünnermann Bernheim, who was rector of the National University, and Cesar Amador Khull, a former officer of the Inter-American Development Bank. There are only two hard-core radicals: a Sandinista commander, Tomás Borge Martinez, who was appointed Interior...
...rebel junta also agreed to provide "safe conduct" for any Somoza henchmen who wished to leave Nicaragua; only those charged with "grave crimes" or "genocide" would not be covered by that pledge. To back up that guarantee, the junta also agreed to a proposal originated by Washington's special envoy, William Bowdler, that the Organization of American States would be invited to monitor the protection of human rights. Satisfied with the junta's promises, Washington pledged to support the new regime. Said Bowdler: "You are now the government of Nicaragua...
Word of Somoza's resignation reached San José at 2:15 a.m. last Tuesday. It was a cause of quiet celebration for the junta, four of whose five members had gathered at the home of Sergio Ramirez Mercado to await the news. With victory seemingly at hand, Nicaragua's new leaders prepared to board two private planes provided by the Costa Rican government. Their triumphant entry into Managua, they announced, would take place "within 24 hours." But that...
Urcuyo's unexpected power play set off tremors in Washington; State Department officials feared that the tenuous relations they had established with the junta would be destroyed if the transition did not take place on schedule. Deputy Secretary of State Warren Christopher, who suspected that Urcuyo would not have acted without Somoza's approval, placed an angry phone call to the ex-dictator's $1 million, nine-room waterfront mansion in Miami Beach. According to Somoza, Christopher warned that if Urcuyo could not be persuaded to step down immediately, Somoza would no longer be welcome...