Sandinist guerrilla offensive continues

Press, 5 June 1979, Page 8

Sandinist guerrilla offensive continues

NZPA-Reuter Managua The West German Embassy in Managua, the capital, arranged the evacuation on Sunday from strife-torn Nicaragua of 74 German nationals, mostly women and children, to Costa Rica, embassy officials have said. The German nationals boarded a Copa turbo-prop aircraft chartered for the' trip to San Jose, the Costa' Rican capital. The flight left! on Sunday evening. Mr Wilhelm Strohe, first secretary at the embassy,! said the departure was not] jan official evacuation. i “There were a.lot of fami-1 lies who wanted to go abroad for vacations and other reasons, and of course some women and children wanted to leave because of the situation,” he said. Mr Strohe said the plane had been chartered by the embassy because the Geriman nationals had reported they could not get seats on commercial flights, which have been packed since the latest spate of violence in Nicaragua erupted more than a week ago. Mr Strohe said some of those who left on Sunday would stay in Costa Rica and “wait and see what hap-

11 pens,” while others were |going on to Panama, West 'Germany, and the United (States. 1 Mr Strohe said other 1 countries had also decided to ! help their nationals leave if ■ asked, but he declined to say which countries. He said the West German Embassy had no plans for “an official evacuation, unless (the situation changed. Heavy gunfire was heard in Managua on Sunday !night. Machine-gun tracer fire could be seen from the Intercontinental Hotel near ' President Anastasio Soimoza’s bunker. Small-arms fire could be heard coming from the hill ( behind the bunker and from ' an area in front of the hotel. , President Somoza, who was on the top floor of the; hotel attending an informal ' cocktail party with his Cabinet and some foreign jour- ' nalists, was asked what the ‘ gunfire was. “It’s their grand offen- ! sive,” President Somoza said, referring to the an- , nouncement by Sandinist guerrillas that they were ; beginning their final offeni sive to oust him from j power. He declined to elaborate

land suggested “Let's go see what it is.” I He led the way out on to a terrace, where he told journalists afrer a few moments of silence: “What a miracle. It’s stopped.” The Nicaraguan Army has called up all retired officers iand men, as the guerrilla offensive continues. The general call to arms was proclaimed on television, “to defend territorial integrity.” According to unconfirmed reports, the intake will number some 3000 retired Army officers and other ranks. Their induction could be expected to swell the National Guard to more than 16,000 men. President Somoza said the Sandinists were reinforced 'by “international brigades” of volunteers from Venezuela. Panama, Colombia, and Spain. At Chinandega, 120 km north-west of Managua, the National Guard was virtually in control of the town, though sporadic firing was continuing. Other reports from El Viejo, 49km from there, said 50 Sandinist guerrillas had attacked an army barracks, but had been driven off.