Word: somozaism
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...guerrillas took their names, tied them up, and began photographing them with a Polaroid camera. When the woman commando asked Martinez his name, she shouted: "Cero! Cero! Martinez is here!" Cero,* later identified by authorities as a "militant" named Eden Pastora, 42, turned to Martinez and said: "If the Somoza forces attack, you will be the first shot...
Elsewhere in the building, other commandos rounded up government employees and officials. Among those caught: Interior Minister José Antonio Mora, his chief assistant, and several relatives of Somoza, including Luis Pallais, publisher of Novedades. Somoza had never bothered to occupy the presidential offices, preferring more secure quarters in his bunker on the grounds of the nearby National Guard training center. The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Managua, Miguel Obando y Bravo, and the bishops of León and Granada, who earlier in the month had demanded Somoza's resignation, immediately offered their services as mediators. So did the ambassadors of Costa...
...Somoza decided early on to negotiate. He had little alternative: the Sandinistas not only were controlling events, but more important, were reflecting a widespread public mood. As the discussions dragged on through the night and into the next day, conditions in the overcrowded, ill-equipped palace became intolerable. Hostages who could not wait to use any of the four toilets in the palace found relief in wastebaskets behind the speaker's lectern in the Chamber of Deputies. During the first night, 300 people escaped by pushing out an air conditioner and climbing out a window. The guerrillas later released...
...from the bus and the guerrillas waving their rifles, it looked like a victory parade," reported TIME Mexico City Bureau Chief Bernard Diederich from the scene. "All along the eight-mile route, thousands of Nicaraguans assembled to catch a glimpse and cheer them on like conquering heroes. 'Down with Somoza!' and 'Viva Sandinista!' they shouted. Thousands of others waited at the terminal. 'Yes, they are our heroes,' said one youth. 'To hell with Somoza!' " At the airport, the commandos, who had settled for $500,000 after winning their other demands, armed their newly released comrades with weapons taken from...
...doubted that they would. The seizure of the palace was only the latest and most dramatic episode in a relentless civil war waged between the oppressive Somoza government?which has usurped the country's riches, denied it political freedom and brooked few critics?and a mostly unarmed population weary of Somoza family rule. The still unsolved murder last January of Pedro Joaquin Chamorro, a prominent newspaper editor and a leading critic of the regime, helped to unite a widely factionalized opposition. Despite official denials, suspicions persist that Chamorro's assassination was ordered by Somoza...