Word: somoza
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...most about the possible political aftershocks of the big quake. Since Franklin Roosevelt pulled out the Marines in 1933, ending 25 years of more or less direct U.S. intervention in the country, Nicaragua has lived in reasonable contentment under the strong but benevolent and relatively progressive rule of the Somozas-first Anastasio ("Tacho") Somoza Garcia, an adventurer who was cut down by an assassin in 1956, then his son Luis (who died in 1967) and now Luis' brother Tachito...
...from immediately succeeding himself to a second five-year term as President, So moza last spring relinquished power for 2½ years to a three-man junta. Though the junta is headed by a compliant mem ber of the Conservative opposition, it is in fact controlled by its two Somoza loyalists, both members of his Liberal Party. They would keep the general's place warm until 1974, when he was to come down from the bleachers and run for another five-year presidential term...
...running the country under martial law, he is fully visible. Once again, he has become the target of rival politicians, restive students and even some businessmen who resent his one-man rule. "He has everything now," complains Javier Zavala, editor of a pro-Conservative paper. To a large extent, Somoza's future now depends on how he deals with the problems of reconstructing the city...
Parochialism. The pre-Christmas quake has revived the old rivalries. To illustrate its contempt for the efficiency of Somoza's Managua-based administration, Granada sent out its own ham radio call for aid; sure enough, a few days later a plane from Houston landed at Las Mercedes loaded with food and medical supplies marked for transshipment to Granada. On a less parochial level, many Nicaraguans agree with Managua Architect Samuel Barreto that a new capital should be located elsewhere if only to "spread the life of the nation throughout the country...
...odds are that the new capital will be built-perhaps with wider streets and lower, quake-resistant buildings -on the rubble of the old. Survivors are already starting to return to their jobs; 70% of the Managua area's industry survived the quake. Somoza's dreams of a $1 billion reconstruction effort may not be farfetched; the first trickle of what promises to be a torrent of foreign aid began last week with a $12.5 million loan from the Washington-based Inter-American Development Bank. Says Wendell Belew, Commercial Affairs attache in the U.S. embassy: "We might even...