279. Memorandum From the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Brzezinski) to President Carter1
SUBJECT
- Nicaraguan Transition
Unless there is a hitch, Somoza will resign at 10:00 P.M. tonight Managua time (midnight our time). He will depart first thing early next morning.
The interim President, Urcuyo, will make the announcement and will name the new Chief-of-Staff of the National Guard.
Tomorrow morning the Archbishop will make a national address, calling for a ceasefire, no reprisals, halt to arms shipments, sanctuaries, etc. Urcuyo and the junta will immediately approve the foregoing.
Unless there are further complications, the junta plans to arrive in Managua at 1300 hours tomorrow. They are anxious to have the Archbishop and the Andean Foreign Ministers present (and I don’t blame them!), and they also plan to invite the OAS Foreign Ministers as well.
[Page 691]We have, in the meantime, sent down a very able officer2 to work with the junta on aid problems, and another prospect for managing the program in Nicaragua is being recalled from his vacations. Christopher assures me that he is very good (and Pastor confirms this). Our aid is ready to roll, and it should be rolling within a day or two.
The junta rejected Somoza’s candidate for Chief-of-Staff, and we will probably go with a lower ranking officer who might act on an interim basis, until the man proposed by us to the junta and accepted by the junta, Colonel Mojica, arrives in Managua.