Word: somozaism
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...Nicaragua's embattled President, General Anastasio ("Tacho") Somoza Debayle, the week was one of gathering desperation. The communiques that flowed into his fortified command post in Managua were grim. From Leon, the country's second largest city (pop. 62,000), came word that a national guard garrison had fallen to the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN). From Rivas, capital of the southwestern district, commanders reported that a force of 700 guerrillas had not been beaten back. Managua itself was under siege. The sounds of heavy artillery salvos echoed through the bunker as Somoza's elite "Pumas," wearing...
There was in fact some truth in Somoza's charges. Among those helping the Sandinistas were 80 members of an "international brigade" of Panamanians. But Somoza's argument that the armed rebellion was nothing more than a Communist conspiracy was rejected by foreign diplomats. They attribute the anger of Somoza's opposition to his ruthless suppression of all political dissent...
Opposition to Somoza has been hardening since the murder in early 1978 of Pedro Joaquin Chamorro, editor of the stridently antigovernment Managua daily La Prensa, which was burned to the ground last week by Somoza's troops. The resentment flared into a full-fledged civil war in which at least 2,000 died after a Sandinista force led by the now legendary Comandante Cero (zero) briefly seized the National Palace in Managua last fall. Since then political moderates have reluctantly rallied to the Sandinista cause. As one businessman told TIME Correspondent Bernard Diederich: "If the FSLN wins...
...Somoza has no disposition for compromise. Earlier this year he curtly rejected a U.S. proposal for a plebiscite to decide his government's future. Moderates argue that since the U.S. was instrumental in putting Somoza's family in power, Washington should do more to force him to step aside. They charge that a cutoff of military and economic assistance ordered by Washington to back up its proposal was a futile gesture that could have little impact on a "feudal" leader like Somoza...
Events have seemingly justified the moderates' pessimism. Somoza has beefed up his national guard from 8,100 to more than 12,000 men and armed them with Israeli assault rifles and machine pistols. The national guard has devoted so much attention to fighting the guerrillas that common criminals have had a field...