Word: somoza
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...Anarchy. After his victory, the dapper Arana drove from his fortress-like home, usually guarded by 20 tough gunmen, to his National Liberation Movement headquarters in his ancient armor-plated, black-windowed limousine. The car was formerly owned by Nicaraguan Dictator Anastasio Somoza, who was assassinated in 1956; its floor was stacked with submachine guns. To his followers, who were celebrating with marimba music and firecrackers, Arana pledged that when he takes over on July 1 from Méndez Montenegro* he would "put an end to the anarchy in which we have been living...
Died. Luis Somoza, 44, President of Nicaragua from 1957 to 1963, elder of Strongman Anastasio ("Tacho") Somoza's two sons, who with his brother "Tachito" continued the more or less benevolent dictatorship established by their father in 1937, espousing a policy of diligent economic progress coupled with blunt anti-Communism in foreign affairs; after a heart attack; in Managua...
Exhausting the Bar. The trouble started with a noisy political rally in the capital of Managua, where Conservative Party Candidate Fernando Aguero harangued some 30,000 of his followers and called upon the country's 5,000-man army to join his anti-Somoza movement. As the crowd's mood grew uglier, troops moved in with rifle butts and bayonets. Before long, both sides were shooting. The highly emotional Aguero and 1,200 of his followers, mostly peasants just in from the country, fled to the nearby Gran Hotel, where they took 117 guests as hostages, including...
...rebels go free provided that they laid down their arms. Having exhausted the hotel's bar supply, the rebels packed up and left with only jeers for the soldiers rimmed around the hotel. The truce, however, was short-lived. When a new series of anti-Somoza demonstrations broke out, the government closed down two opposition papers and five Managua radio stations, searched homes and stores for arms and arrested 130 opposition leaders. Aguero himself ducked into hiding, then at week's end suddenly reappeared to announce that he still intended to run in the election, scheduled for next...
...Somoza fortune in Nicaragua is estimated to total some $100 million. The Somozas hold majority interests in the national airline, the steamship company, the gold mines, a steel-fabricating plant and the main port complex; they own cattle ranches, cotton warehouses and thousands of acres of real estate. They have neutralized most of their potential opponents by creating a system in which they have allowed even their opposition to grow rich on the prosperity-but not to share the power. So strong is the Somoza power and confidence, in fact, that the current Anastasio-who is ready to switch from...