115. Despatch From the Ambassador in Nicaragua (Whelan) to the Department of State1
SUBJECT
- Review of First Year of Luis Somoza’s Presidency
Luis Somoza is just completing his first year in office as Acting President and President of Nicaragua. To date, with few exceptions, he has done a very good job both as an administrator and as a politician. He takes his presidential duties seriously, listens to advice and does not make the same mistake twice. He is decentralizing the Government and giving his Cabinet Ministers and department heads increased authority and backing up their decisions. He has eliminated some of the rackets and is removing dead wood from Government payrolls. About one thousand employees have been dropped by the railroad alone. By eliminating the political hacks he plans on saving about three million dollars a year, which, in case of poor crops, he will use for public works to lessen unemployment. He is quietly bringing into the Government some of the opposition.
His fiscal policy appears drastic to both Government and opposition. He is determined to keep from devaluating the currency. He [Page 240] is making the bank collect its loans and using the collections to give loans to small farmers.
President Luis has proceeded a little too fast with some of his reforms. He has dropped several members of the Sacasa bloc which is probably the second strongest in the Liberal party. His cabinet for the most part are very good men, but, with the exception of a couple, are not politically minded. Some of the appointees are not consecrated Liberals and as a result there is a little dissatisfaction within the Liberal party. In short, he has been cleaning house a little too rapidly which is not always politically wise, and as a result he will probably slow up the process temporarily. The fact that he is demonstrating that he is trying to run an honest, efficient government has brought several of those in the opposition quietly into his camp.
General Tachito (who is now being called Tacho) Somoza, has been the recipient of most of the anti-Somoza feeling which is directed more against the name than the individual. The fact that he is head of the police force of the country does not enhance his popularity. In my opinion, the General has not matured nearly so much as his brother Luis, but there is a growing favorable sentiment in his behalf, especially among those who are dealing with him. American businessmen in particular are very favorably impressed with Tacho. Our Military Attaché, who is the Embassy’s contact with the General, has written his impressions, which are attached,2 and I think they are accurate.
Luis and Tacho have a perfect working agreement: General Tacho takes care of the Guardia, Lanica Airlines and Mamenic Steamship Lines. President Luis handles the Government and individual family property. There is the customary family disagreement over the estate, Luis using the profits to pay off the bank loans, with Lillian Somoza (Ambassador Guillermo Sevilla Sacasa’s wife) and her mother not liking the idea. José, the recognized half-brother, is fully accepted. He is a good, tough boy, is a Major in the Guardia, and is very well-liked by both enlisted men and officers.
The Liberal party is controlled by Luis. They will not have a party convention for quite some time, but the Young Liberals will have their convention in November. The party organization is working all the time, and as of now there are no serious cracks in the machinery. The party treasury has more than five million córdobas and paid working personnel as well as political appointees.
During the months of December and January, reliable Conservatives (average age: 50 years), with the help of some oldsters, will attempt to reorganize the Conservative party with the hope that the [Page 241] reorganization will, to a great extent, eliminate the Chamorro3 influence and that of Conrado Vado, a member of Congress who is probably the smartest leader of the Legal Conservative party. As of now, there are several splinter groups within the party, with the Legal Conservatives headed by Eddie Amador (Conservative candidate for President last February) getting the five per cent contribution from Conservatives in Government. (The five per cent is deducted from all salaries and given to the parties.) The party is still paying for the last campaign. They are quietly laying the groundwork for a convention which will result in a merger of the two groups. When the movement to reorganize is in the open it will have opposition from Argüello and Bolaños (called “The Weasel”), a successful lawyer and as much as anyone except Chamorro the guiding genius behind the old traditional party. He and Tefel, a good, tough boy who is in the Directiva of the Young Conservatives, are hoping to stage one final revolution before General Chamorro dies. They still think the Chamorro name is magic. It is not. They forget that the General’s associates are all old or dead. The younger Conservative opposition have had no military training and with very few exceptions would not mix in anything dangerous. That was proven in the 1954 attempted revolution. The old General is passing the torch to his nephew Humberto Chamorro of Granada, who accepts it willingly. Humberto cannot command the loyalty his uncle did 25 years ago, and as a result he will not be effective.
The Independent Liberal party has pretty much ceased to function.
The only cloud on the horizon is the possibility of assassination. If that happened while Congress was in session the Congress would name the Acting President. Before Congress adjourns they name three of their number from whom the President secretly selects one for Acting President. The three to be named, as of today, will be Luis Manuel Debayle, Dr. Leonardo Somarriba, and Oscar Sevilla Sacasa, with Luis Manuel Debayle getting the nod.
The President and his Government continue to be friendly to the United States. The Foreign Minister and the Minister of Agriculture are quite nationalistic. They, along with several others, think a little bit of Communism would be a good thing because it would make the United States a little more liberal, but as long as Luis is President we will not have any trouble on that score.
The Government under President Luis will honestly attempt to stay away from any entangling alliances with neighboring countries. The only thing that he wants is to be left alone to work out [Page 242] Nicaragua’s economic problems. We know that he will use every honorable method to keep away from trouble.
We are enclosing brief appraisals of Cabinet Members by the Embassy officers who have been in contact with them.4