Like Somoza, the Sandinistas crack down on a dissenting daily
No one understands the power of a free press better than Nicaragua's Sandinistas, who overthrew Dictator Anastasio Somoza two years ago with the help of the crusading opposition newspaper, La Prensa. Under Somoza, La Prensa (circ. 75,000) had paid a steep price for its dissenting views: its reporters were beaten and jailed, its offices were bombed, and finally its unflinching editor, Pedro JoaquĆn Chamorro, was murdered by Somoza's henchmen. When the Sandinistas came to power 18 months later, they promised to create a pluralistic...