Undoing the Dynasty

A new junta sets out to build "the country Sandino dreamed of"

It was as though the country had emerged from a coma. After the 46 years of suffering inflicted by the corrupt Somoza dynasty, a new spirit ruled the land. From the flagpole by the bunker in Managua where exiled Dictator Anastasio ("Tacho") Somoza Debayle had commanded a bloody last stand fluttered the red-and-black banner of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (F.S.L.N.). Even the sounds were different Gone was the stream of anti-Communist propaganda that had once poured from Somoza's radio station. In its place came round-the-clock broadcasts of revolutionary songs and tributes to General Cesar Augusto Sandino, the legendary nationalist guerrilla slain by Somoza's father in 1934. Proclaimed an announcer: "The sons of Sandino are going to build the country that the general dreamed about."

Whatever Sandino's dreams, the question now was whether Nicaragua's revolution would give birth to a mildly leftist but democratic society or a militant Marxist state. The five-member junta that rules the country has so far followed a middle-of-the-road course, promising elections, an economy based on a mixture of private and government enterprise, and an independent stance in foreign affairs. Although the junta remains united, there have been foreshadowings of an eventual breakdown in the alliance of radicals and moderates who combined to topple Somoza. Asked if he supported the junta's economic program, Minister of the Interior Tomas Borge Martinez, a guerrilla leader who denies that he is a Marxist, would only say: "In the beginning it is going to be a mixed economy." What might follow he did not say.

Even more worrisome were the junta's foreign policy moves. In the first official visit by members of the junta to another country, Alfonso Robelo Callejas and Moises Hassan led a delegation of 23 guerrillas to Cuba. Fidel Castro was celebrating the 26th anniversary of his assault on Havana's Moncada barracks. Repaying the Palestine Liberation Organization for the arms and other support it provided during the Sandinistas' "final offensive," the new Nicaraguan government announced that it would seek a "close relationship" with Arab countries.

It would also cancel the country's $5.1 million debt to Israel and Argentina for arms purchased by Somoza.

Washington hopes that the new government's need for assistance in rebuilding its shattered society will keep the junta on a moderate course. The Carter Administration clearly is trying to strengthen the tenuous relationship with the new government that developed during the long negotiations that led to Somoza's abdication. At his Washington press conference last week, President Carter said it was a mistake for Americans to assume that every abrupt change in the hemisphere is somehow "the result of secret, massive Cuban intervention." As for the future, he said, "we will use our efforts in a proper fashion without interventionism to let the Nicaraguans let their voice be heard in shaping their own affairs." In response, the junta announced that a delegation "at the highest level" would visit the U.S. this week to seek reconstruction aid.

To most Nicaraguans the most pressing concern was the need to sweep away the last vestiges of Somoza's despotic regime and get on with rebuilding the country. In its first official act, the junta decreed that Somoza's name would be effaced from public buildings and that a legal campaign to extradite him from the U.S. would begin. The government also nationalized 51 companies owned by the mustachioed ex-dictator or members of his family. Radio Sandino invited the handful of Somoza's National Guardsmen who have staged sporadic acts of resis-;ance against the new regime to turn themselves in--or be shot on sight if they are caught in acts of violence. "We are not going to tolerate resistance from either the ultra left or the ultra right," asserted Junta Leader Sergio Ramirez Mercado. "The war is not yet over."

The most difficult task will be reviving Nicaragua's economy. Thousands of workers who responded to the government's appeal to return to their jobs last week found factories and businesses had been destroyed in Somoza's fierce counterattack. Vital crops of cotton had not been sowed, and coffee, on which the country depends for 25% of its foreign earnings, had not been harvested. In a final act of pillage in the country that his family looted for 46 years (see box), Somoza and his cronies had made off with all but $3.5 million of the country's foreign reserves, which stood as high as $150 million in 1977. Because of the shortage of funds, the junta nationalized Nicaragua's banks and placed limits on the operation of foreign banks. It also applied to the Inter-American Development Bank for an emergency loan of $50 million.

In some of its other initial decrees, the junta displayed a curious mixture of moralism and mercy. Roberto Argueello Hurtado, a moderate lawyer who was sworn in last week as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, insisted that the new regime wants to avoid "the excesses of Iran." Thus Guardsmen convicted of atrocities will not be sentenced to death.

Last week the junta permitted 220 of Somoza's soldiers who had taken refuge in the Salvadoran embassy to leave; 72 others, however, were denied permission until it was determined whether they were wanted for "war crimes." The junta also laid down stiff penalties for offenses against "public decency." Convicted prostitutes, gamblers and public drunks face jail terms of from one to four years.

One figure who will be scrutinized for clues to Nicaragua's future is Interior Minister Borge, 49, commander of the revolutionary police. The only surviving founder of the Sandinista movement and a friend of Fidel Castro's, Borge is considered to be the most radical member of the new administration. Known as el Viejo (the old one) because of his long service in the fight against the dynasty, Borge has a pronounced limp as a result of torture in Somoza's prisons.

Borge has emerged as the new regime's most quotable spokesman, though some of his aphorisms have an ominous ring. Asked if Nicaragua might become the springboard for other Latin American revolts, he snapped: "What happens in those countries is not our fault. We are not guilty for the repression, the unemployment, the misery. But clearly we are guilty for setting an example." Were American worries about leftist influence justified? "We are not interested in the criteria of the Yankee imperialists. There are no labels for governments. Labels are only good for bottles of whisky." Would Nicaragua accept assistance from the U.S.? "That would be good, useful, always if it comes without conditions. Because we accept conditions from no one." What surprises might the new regime have in store? "If I told you, they wouldn't be surprises." Fair enough. But Borge's reply left Doth Nicaraguans and outsiders wondering what they might turn out to be.

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