Word: somozaism
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...coalition does indeed suffer from a public relations problem: many of its contras (counterrevolutionaries) served in the unpopular National Guard under Somoza, who was overthrown by the Sandinistas in 1979. The extent of U.S. involvement with the F.D.N. remains unclear, but the CIA is known to be arming and training the contras so they can stage raids into Nicaragua from bases in neighboring Honduras. These connections, in fact, have cost the F.D.N. the potential support of other exile leaders, most notably Edén Pastora Gómez, a former Sandinista leader who now lives in Costa Rica...
...F.D.N.'s public relations debut last week did not go smoothly. The contras announced a new leadership team in a bid to attract other anti-Sandinistas under a broadened F.D.N. umbrella. But more questions were raised than answered. The six new leaders stressed their opposition to Somoza as well as to the Sandinistas. But the biographical handouts were suspiciously skimpy. The group was an odd mix: from the respectable Lucia Cardenal Salazar, the widow of a Somoza opponent killed by the Sandinistas, to Enrique Bermúdez, a colonel in the National Guard and Somoza's defense attach...
Though the Sandinistas overthrew Dictator Anastasio Somoza Debayle and seized control of Nicaragua in July 1979, it was not until Ronald Reagan took office in January 1981 that relations between the two countries seriously deteriorated. The Administration began charging that the Sandinistas, backed by Cuba and the Soviet Union, were funneling arms to leftist guerrillas in El Salvador, often shipping the weapons across the southern heel of Honduras. In December 1981, Reagan gave the go-ahead for a series of covert operations to snip the supply line and intimidate the Sandinistas. Included were financial aid for opposition groups within Nicaragua...
Until the U.S. came along, the contras could hardly be considered a threat to Managua. In the years following Somoza's downfall, small bands of former National Guardsmen operated along the Honduran border, making hit-and-run attacks inside Nicaragua. The Somocistas, as they were known, were demoralized and poorly organized. The U.S. set about forcing the various factions to unite under a central command, while the CIA began recruiting students, farmers and other civilians to beef up the force. Then, early this year, the Fuerza Democratica Nicaragiiense (F.D.N.) was established to serve as a respectable political front group...
...tribulations, the Sandinista regime has made some improvements. The literacy rate has risen from 50% to 87%. Thousands of campesinos have received title to confiscated farm land. But an increasing number of Nicaraguans are beginning to compare the Sandinistas to Somoza. Says a plump, fortyish food vendor, standing in her tin-and plastic-sided stall in Managua's Mercado Oriental: "This is the worst we have ever had it. Everyone is waiting for Edén Pastora." They may have to wait a while. But the spreading disillusionment should put the Sandinistas on notice that political legitimacy does...