Word: somozaism
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...showcase of Sandinista popularity is Barrio Riguero (pop. 11,000), an eastern slum neighborhood of Managua that was the scene of serious street fighting against Somoza. Spray-painted revolutionary slogans adorn virtually every ramshackle wall. Pigs root through street trash, and mothers bathe squealing infants in concrete laundry sinks in cramped backyards. A notable change in the landscape, however, is a tiny, spotless health post in the district. In four modest examining rooms, crisply attired nurses provide basic diagnostic and preventive care for anyone who wants it, free of charge...
...shortage of goods poses the danger of creating disaffection among the poor, whose interests the revolutionaries claim to represent. Many of the Sandinista leaders have moved into the luxury residences vacated by Somoza supporters who fled the country; members of the regime's elite 25,000-strong Sandinista People's Army have access to special gasoline supplies, duty-free stores and food outlets. Says a matronly nurse in a health clinic: "The situation is critical. The Sandinista leadership has benefited from this revolution but not the masses. I am 100% Sandinista, but not their type of Sandinista...
Like other revolutions of thought and arms, the new Nicaraguan order has set friend against friend, brother against brother. Four years after the overthrow of Dictator Anastasio Somoza Debayle, one remarkable family embodies the ideological divisions that tear at the fabric of the country: the old and respected Chamorro clan, a wealthy political and publishing dynasty that has given Nicaragua four Presidents and three generations of newspaper publishers. In their differing and passionately held points of view, the Chamorros are a microcosm of a nation at odds with itself...
Disharmony is new to them. For more than 40 years, the family was united in its opposition to the harsh and repressive regimes of successive members of the Somoza family. For three decades, that opposition was led by Pedro Joaquin Chamorro, brilliant and unflinching editor of the Managua daily La Prensa. On Jan. 10, 1978, Chamorro, 53, was gunned down on his way to the office by Sonioza henchmen. The apparent motive: retaliation for a La Prensa disclosure that a blood bank owned in part by Somoza was selling much needed blood abroad at a profit...
...Sandinistas treated Pope . ohn Paul II during his visit to Managua last March. So Centeno left his family, one horse and five mules and joined the rebels. "Pecos Bill," 29, abandoned his 27,000-acre ranch and 2,500 cattle because, as a former second lieutenant in Dictator Anastasio Somoza's National Guard, he feared reprisals after the Sandinistas took over. Maria Cristina Cuadra, 17, first ran into trouble after she was caught pulling down pictures of Revolutionary Heroes Augusto César Sandino and Carlos Fonseca. Afraid she might be forced to serve in the Sandinista militia...