Word: somozaism
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...point of this widespread effort has come in response to the January 10 machine-gun slaying of the very popular Pedro Joaquin Chamorro, editor of the opposition newspaper La Prensa. As news of the murder spread, thousands took to the streets in Managua, burning, looting and angrily chanting "Muera Somoza!" (Die Somoza!). Authorities estimated damages incurred by the rioting at $7 million. In the next few days, a national strike was organized to protest the continued rule of Somoza. The strike lasted 17 days, ending on Feburary 7, during which time three quarters of the country's businesses shut down...
...MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS of February 5 further exposed the pervasiveness of the anti-Somoza consensus. In that election, 52 of the 132 candidates of the Conservative Party, the country's only legal opposition group (characterized by one Nicaraguan national at Harvard as "His Majesty's loyal opposition"), withdrew their candidacy in protest against the regime. And despite reported offers of free food and liquor in return for a pro-Somoza vote, government figures showed that only 143,000 out of 700,000 eligible voters voted...
...group of wealthy Nicaraguan businessmen, lawyers and other prominent figures, including poet and national hero Ernesto Cardenal, have left the country for Costa Rica, vowing never to return until Somoza's fall. Calling themselves Los Doce, ("The Twelve"), the group issued a statement praising the "political maturity" of the FSLN guerrilla movement and warning that the Sandinista front must participate in any solution to Nicaragua's problems...
...these developments indicate a sharp rise in support for the Sandinistas, once a small group of only 200 revolutionary insurgents, now at the vanguard of the anti-Somoza movement with a combat force of over 1000 and widespread popular approval, especially in the poverty-stricken countryside. But regardless of their popularity, the FSLN can never succeed with a purely military approach. The strength of Somoza's power derives from his control of the 7500-member Guardia National, a combination army and secret police force trained and equipped by the U.S. The campesinosand slum-dwellers of Managua have no weapons...
THIS POVERTY CONTRASTS with the $500 million fortune of the Somoza family. Somoza owns more than one-fifth of Nicaragua's arable land and runs more than 40 companies. Between his family and his lieutenants, Somoza has managed to totally manipulate the political and economic affairs of the nation. Elections are fixed. Somoza's corruption infects the business community. Military people occupy high places in government, and government contracts mysteriously go to family business. The key to business success in Nicaragua, observes one Harvard Latin American expert, is a Somoza family connection, and businessmen who lack one are "banging their...