Word: managua
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...detested dictator, Anastasio Somoza. The sudden and apparently spontaneous uprising by the townspeople did not succeed in bringing down the regime. But the fact that it had occurred at all was symptomatic of the troubles facing Somoza's government. Following on the audacious capture the week before of Managua's National Palace, after which members of the leftist Sandinista National Liberation Front won the release of 59 political prisoners and received safe passage to Panama, the Matagalpa rebellion raised the real likelihood that the days of the Somoza dynasty may be numbered...
...Matagalpa (pop. 61,000) a thriving coffee-and cattle-farming center in the mountains 80 miles north of Managua, youths immediately covered some of the streets with broken glass to ensure compliance with the strike. The young rebels, mostly teenagers, then went around accumulating-by force, in some cases-small arms, rifles and shotguns from residents of the city. By Sunday morning, Aug. 27, los muchachos (the boys) had enough firepower to start what they described as the "people's war against the Somoza regime...
From his bunker in Managua, Somoza defended the Guard's actions in Matagalpa. The general, a graduate of West Point who speaks English fluently, compared the rebels to "Bronx street gangs-just juvenile delinquents." While admitting that the general strike had grown worse, he insisted he would not resign before his term ends in 1981. To do otherwise, he said, would "betray the aspirations of the people of Nicaragua to live in a free society...
...high noon in Managua. A strong wind off Lake Managua brought some relief from the scorching heat, but ice cream vendors did their usual brisk trade as people arrived to pay their taxes at the lakeside National Palace. Suddenly 24 soldiers in olive green fatigues and black berets, the uniform of the National Guard training school, drew up in trucks. "Make way. Here comes el Hombre," snapped one of the soldiers as he ran to a side entrance and opened a path in the crowd. Bystanders expected to see General Anastasio ("Tacho") Somoza, Latin America's most notorious strongman...
...Minister José Antonio Mora, his chief assistant, and several relatives of Somoza, including Luis Pallais, publisher of Novedades. Somoza had never bothered to occupy the presidential offices, preferring more secure quarters in his bunker on the grounds of the nearby National Guard training center. The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Managua, Miguel Obando y Bravo, and the bishops of León and Granada, who earlier in the month had demanded Somoza's resignation, immediately offered their services as mediators. So did the ambassadors of Costa Rica and Panama. They quickly reported back with the guerrillas' demands: 1) the release...