143. Editorial Note
On May 6, 1954, President Somoza called a press conference to announce that a large arms cache had been discovered on Nicaragua’s Pacific Coast after an unidentified submarine had been seen. According to Piero Gleijeses in Shattered Hope:
“For anyone who couldn’t divine the source of the weapons and the nationality of the submarine, a clue was obligingly provided: the arms Oxz; were stamped with a hammer and sickle.’ The weapons had, in fact, been planted by the CIA, with Somoza’s enthusiastic complicity. The ploy, however, was too crude to have much value as propaganda and received only limited attention at the time.” (page 294)