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Since that time, Chamorro had confined his attacks within his family's constantly censored newspaper. After a deadly band of anti-Somoza guerrillas known as the Sandinistas—with whom Chamorro was sympathetic—launched an offensive against the national guard last October, Chamorro was forbidden to leave the country. Three months ago, he received an unexpected respite: Tacho Somoza, who denies all accusations of tyranny in Nicaragua, could hardly refuse to let his most persistent critic fly to New York City to receive the Maria Moors Cabot Prize from Columbia University for his "distinguished journalistic contributions to the advancement of inter-American understanding."
Somoza insisted last week that he had had nothing to do with the murder of his longtime adversary. "I am very chagrined at Pedro Joaquin's killing," he told TIME. "He was in the opposition, but he was in the honest opposition." The day after the shooting four men were arrested. One of the accused, Silvio Peña Rivas, told a Managua judge that he had been paid 100,000 cordobas ($14,285) to kill the publisher. He said that payment had been made by Pedro Ramos, a Cuban-American, who was owner of the blood bank that Chamorro had exposed. In Miami, Ramos termed the charge "a monstrosity."
Whatever the motive, the killing was another problem for Tacho Somoza, already awash in a sea of trouble. Somoza nearly died from a heart attack last summer; even though he shed 40 lbs. from his previous 240, he has still not yet fully recovered. Politically, the regime is shakier than ever before in the course of its 45 years. The U.S. last year threatened to cut off Nicaraguan aid because of continuing violations of human rights. Partly to appease Washington, Tacho lifted the martial law he had imposed to subdue the Sandinistas. Meanwhile, a new and growing opposition from businessmen and church leaders is increasingly active.
At week's end, Somoza announced that he would give up the presidency when his term ends in 1981. Under the 1974 constitution, no member of his family can succeed him. Somoza will undoubtedly pick a trusted stand-in as puppet President, however, and keep his job as head of the national guard—thus continuing to run the country