The Battle of Managua

Seven Nicaraguans in various stages of disarray (one wore a pajama coat) arrived last week in Panama, fugitives from the wrath of Nicaragua's Dictator-President Anastasio ("Tacho") Somoza.

From the seven--a former supreme court justice, two newspapermen, two former university professors and two student leaders--came a story of trouble in Tacho's domain. It had all started when Somoza's National Guardsmen charged and clubbed thousands of Nicaraguans who had turned out to welcome Chile's visiting libertarian President Juan Antonio Rios.

At a dinner in the Gran Hotel, Rios heard speakers damn the Somoza regime. Since the Chilean embassy is located in the hotel, it was technically inviolable. Somoza's police, attempting to enter and arrest the speakers, were thrown out. Later the police formed a cordon around the hotel. Some Nicaraguans stayed on & on, not daring to leave.

The police, fearing another demonstration, refused to allow the Central University of Managua to hold ceremonies awarding Rios an honorary degree. Instead the police delivered the degree at the hotel.

In widespread fighting approximately 500 were injured. Next day police rounded up anti-Somozistas. Those who reached Panama were lucky; many of the rest were shipped off to Nicaragua's penal colony on Corn Island.

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