NICARAGUA: A Battle Ends, a War Begins

Somoza subdues a city, but the dictator's days may be numbered

For five fearful and defiant days, the city of Matagalpa had stood proud: a rebellious stronghold against the mechanized might of Nicaragua's National Guard and its detested dictator, Anastasio Somoza. The sudden and apparently spontaneous uprising by the townspeople did not succeed in bringing down the regime. But the fact that it had occurred at all was symptomatic of the troubles facing Somoza's government. Following on the audacious capture the week before of Managua's National Palace, after which members of the leftist Sandinista National Liberation Front won the release of 59 political prisoners and received safe passage to Panama, the Matagalpa rebellion raised the real likelihood that the days of the Somoza dynasty may be numbered.

The rebellion ended almost as suddenly as it began. In the face of a blazing onslaught by National Guardsmen armed with submachine guns and backed up by armored cars, the youthful rebels took off their masks, hid their arms and abandoned their resistance. But not before the government forces had strafed and bombed the city and gunned down the innocent along with the insurgents. The toll: 30 dead, at least 200 wounded.

The National Guard's conquest of Matagalpa climaxed the second week of a drive by opponents of the regime to force the resignation of Somoza, 52, whose family has ruled Nicaragua since 1933. Somoza's monopoly of much of the country's industry and business and the National Guard's brutalization of the rural population have served to unite the opposition, which now ranges from the extreme left to extreme right. After the Sandinista assault on the palace, the Broad Opposition Front, a coalition of political and business groups, called a general strike to last until Somoza resigned.

In Matagalpa (pop. 61,000) a thriving coffee-and cattle-farming center in the mountains 80 miles north of Managua, youths immediately covered some of the streets with broken glass to ensure compliance with the strike. The young rebels, mostly teenagers, then went around accumulating—by force, in some cases—small arms, rifles and shotguns from residents of the city. By Sunday morning, Aug. 27, los muchachos (the boys) had enough firepower to start what they described as the "people's war against the Somoza regime."

The National Guard quickly moved in reinforcements. On Tuesday afternoon, without warning, it launched a three-hour aerial attack, concentrating on the poor barrios in the hills around the city. Visiting Matagalpa shortly after the attack, TIME Mexico City Bureau Chief Bernard Diederich found the hospitals filled with wounded. At least 17 people were dead. Many residents had fled the city, but those who remained were defiant. "We know they are going to bomb us again," said an elderly woman. "It shows what a barbaric regime we are living under."