Word: ramirez
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...This is a polite revolution" With those words Sergio Ramirez Mercado, soft-spoken leader of Nicaragua's revolutionary junta, summed up all the changes in his nation since the overthrow of Dictator Anastasio ("Tacho") Somoza Debayle five weeks ago. Polite has meant, above all, merciful. After 46 years of stifling one-man rule, the pervading atmosphere of fear is gone. There has been no reprisal by the victors; not a single member of Somoza's national guard has been executed, though its members killed thousands during the revolt. Despite predictions to the contrary, the unity of diverse political...
...every friend in my telephone book until I had a staff," one harried official told TIME Correspondent Roberto Suro. To ensure that the bureaucracy does not fall back into the predatory pattern of the past, the junta enacted a tough anticorruption law that provides hefty fines for malfeasance. Says Ramirez: "A government official today can stick his foot in his mouth, but not his hand in the cookie...
...will become the country's only effective force for maintaining law-and-order, looked on. Whether Nicaragua's revolution proves to be a moderate one or a reproduction of Castro's coup depends in large measure on the emerging leader of the new provisional government, Sergio Ramirez Mercado...
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...
That will not be for a while. Junta Member Ramirez estimates that the provisional government will stay in power for two to five years, "the time it takes to establish the basis of a genuine democratic development in Nicaragua." Most of the junta's other prescriptions for the country are vague, save for one pledge repeated over and over by rebel leaders: the lands and holdings of the Somoza family in Nicaragua, estimated at up to $500 million, will be confiscated and administered by the new government...