Word: strongmen
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...unarmed schoolboys hurled stones at police lorries and civilian freedom fighters stood up to machine-gun fire, Venezuelan Dictator Marcos Péerez Jiménez toppled with a crash that rattled the Americas' few remaining strongmen. Struggling to avoid a similar end at the hands of mountain guerrillas who have been battling for his overthrow, Cuba's President Fulgencio Batista relaxed his grip on civil rights, prepared to set up what he hoped would be a well-controlled election. And Guatemala, following its second try at presidential elections in three months, hovered at the brink of violence...
...Venezuelans' triumph was a source of hope throughout the Americas' free countries, a warning jolt to Latin America's last few strongmen (see box). Argentina, struggling to clean up the mess left by Juan PerÓn, could face its first free post-PerÓn general elections this month without the nagging threat of interference from the ousted dictator operating in plush exile in Perez Jiménez' Caracas. Colombia, lately rid of Dictator Gustavo Rojas Pinilla, could get on with its rebuilding, proud of having set a good example and with fresh assurance that...
...guest got things started by snapping to attention in Caracas' Plaza Bolívar while a comely maiden presented a "sacred torch," run into town by relays of students from the battle shrine at Carabobo, 120 miles away. Then, before a crowd of 100,000, the two strongmen dedicated the Avenue of Heroes, a gaudy, neo-Grecian plaza fronting the mammoth Armed Forces Club. The avenue's two 100-ft. towers, six reflecting pools, 84 giant urns, 50-ft. obelisk and dozens of statues and fountains cost the nation at least...
Like most calypso singers, Kontiki learned his trade on the streets, where, as one of 16 children in a poor family, he spent most of his time. Unlike most, he devoted himself from the start strictly to politics rather than other topical matters, praising democrats and making fun of strongmen. During the 1952 Panamanian elections he made his professional breakthrough with a glowing ditty about a democrat of sorts, the late President Jose Antonio ("Chichi") Remon. The lyrics, shunning excess modesty, called Remon "the saviour of Panama"; Remon used it as a campaign jingle, and after he won the election...
Colombia's Foreign Minister had earlier announced that the talks would "go a little beyond mere protocol," but if the strongmen made any agreement, they did not announce it. There is no political tension between the countries. Regardless of what they said, by merely meeting, the Presidents affirmed what every dictator who is trying to keep the lid on likes to know: the flanking nation is in understanding hands. "We are both military men," said Rojas Pinilla later. "We have the same problems and the same "enemies...