Word: somoza
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Like a boxer who goes into the last round knowing that he needs a knockout to win, President General Anastasio ("Tacho") Somoza Debayle last week threw every punch he could muster at his opponents. From his windowless bunker in Nicaragua's embattled capital of Managua, he ordered air force helicopters to drop 500-lb. bombs and oil drums filled with liquid explosives on the barrios that rebels of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (F.S.L.N.) have controlled for the past three weeks. The savage air attacks killed hundreds of innocent civilians, who were unable to reach the precarious safety...
...Somoza recaptures Managua, but the end of his era seems near...
...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...
...Somoza was also losing on the diplomatic front. In Washington, the Organization of American States (OAS) rejected a U.S. proposal for an inter-American peace-keeping force to be dispatched to the strife-torn land. Nonetheless, in a 17-to-2 vote from which the military governments in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Chile and Uruguay abstained, the OAS approved a resolution calling for "the immediate and definitive replacement" of Somoza's regime. The resolution cleared the way for the rebel junta to gather more support from anti-Somoza forces both inside and outside the country...
...five-member provisional government. Panama's Brigadier General Omar Torrijos Herrera welcomed three of its members to his capital with a military band, honor guard and government-arranged cheering throngs usually reserved for visiting heads of state. Following the OAS meeting, Peru broke off diplomatic relations with the Somoza regime; Brazil recalled its ambassador to Managua, announcing that relations with Nicaragua had been "suspended...