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Ironically, the civil war erupted just as the country prepared for Independence Day, the annual celebration on Sept. 15 of the break by Nicaragua and other Central American states from Spanish rule in 1821. Somoza, directing the war from a windowless bunker at National Guard headquarters overlooking Managua, marked the day with a champagne reception that U.S. Ambassador Mauricio Solaun declined to attend. The Sandinistas promptly labeled this year's observance Second Independence Day. But neither side could really celebrate a victory in one of the most savage and confusing wars that Central America has ever seen. Each side predictably deflated its own casualties and exaggerated the number of those on the other side. The Nicaraguan Red Cross, whose members heroically retrieved the dead and wounded and rescued refugees in the midst of the shooting, estimated at week's end that at least 500 people had been killed and as many more wounded in the initial fighting. Most of the casualties appeared to be civilians like Maria Jesús Gadea.
At least four of the dead were decidedly not civilians. Brigadier General José Ivan Alegrett, 47, the guard's tough chief of operations, who was openly contemptuous of Somoza for having capitulated to the Sandinistas at the National Palace last month, died when the plane he was piloting crashed near the Costa Rican border. Killed with Alegrett were three of half a dozen foreign mercenaries employed by Somoza to train the guard. One of these was an American known in Managua as Mike the Mercenary. When news of the death of the most hated guard officer spread through Managua's Intercontinental Hotel, few people mourned. "Great! Wonderful!" shouted one woman. "The bastard is dead!"
From his bunker, West Point Graduate Somoza, whose favorite pastime is watching war movies, called for more mercenaries. Newspaper ads suddenly appeared in the U.S. Southwest: "ExMarine combat veterans needed to fight Communist takeover in Central America." An Albuquerque recruiter, Guy Gabaldon, quickly signed up his quota of 100 men and asked Managua for permission to enroll more. Somoza also ordered up his own National Guard reserves. Reportedly, he did so with reluctance because of suspicions that they might not otherwise remain loyal and turn over arms to the rebels. In any case, Somoza needed the extra help. His regular guard forces were said to be spread so thin that some were taking Dexedrine to stay awake and were so distraught that they shot civilians and even unarmed Red Cross teams.