Word: masaya
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...junta was also trying to mop up diehard remnants of Somoza's national guard. Almost every night the sounds of gunfire shattered the stillness of Managua as Sandinista security men battled renegade guardsmen. Egged on by a Masaya mob that demanded the death of its prisoner, Sandinista troops summarily executed a 19-year-old informer who had admitted leading Somoza's assassination squads to the hideouts of at least 20 guerrillas during the civil war. New York Democratic Congressman John Murphy, a longtime friend of Somoza's, claimed that the Sandinistas were executing "thousands" of guardsmen...
...places. They also destroyed the last national guard garrison in Matagalpa and closed in on Chinandega, one of two major cities in northern Nicaragua not controlled by the rebels. In a desperate attempt to break the Sandinista noose that was tightening around Managua, Somoza launched a major attack against Masaya, 20 miles south of the capital; the government offensive included heavy bombing and strafing as well as the deployment of hundreds of troops from the capital...
...week's end, the capital was back under Somoza's control, but he faced a prolonged struggle in the countryside. To the list of towns captured by the rebels were added the names of Masaya, Somotillo and Guasaule. In the south, a rebel column continued its pressure on Rivas (pop. 26,000), where the temporary government set up two weeks ago by the Sandinistas and their allies hopes to establish its capital. Said a dispirited national guard officer: "The rebels are like mosquitoes. We can never get rid of them...
...national guardsmen have been severely strained by the extent of the fighting, which has involved virtually every city and town in the country. To retain control of his capital, Somoza pulled in troops from the countryside, thereby allowing Leon and parts of Matagalpa, Esteli and Masaya to fall into rebel hands...
...tactics made a huge toll of innocent noncombatants inevitable. In the bloodiest fighting of a civil war that has simmered along for 18 months, many thousands died, most of them civilians. Carrying white flags, at least 200,000 refugees poured out of the barrios in Managua, León, Masaya and Matagaipa to escape the indiscriminate raids by government T-33 jets, rocket-equipped Cessnas and lumbering C-47 "Puff the Magic Dragon" gunships. "I really think Somoza is trying to kill every able-bodied Nicaraguan," concluded a wealthy businessman in Managua...