Thousands mourn for late dictator

Press, 22 September 1980, Page 6

Thousands mourn for late dictator

NZPA-Reuter Miami Anastasio Somoza, the deposed Nicaraguan dictator who was assassinated in Paraguay last week,, was buried at the week-end as 1500 mourners chanted “Viva Somoza” in Miami’s Little Havana cemetery.

His coffin, draped with a Nicaraguan flag, was placed in a vault beside an oak tree while the crowd sang Nicaragua’s national anthem and military academy hymn. Cuban exiles among them followed with Cuba’s national anthem. Somoza and two companions were killed last week in a bazooka and machine-gun attack on their car in Asuncion, the Paraguayan capital where he lived in exile. Somoza’s body was flown to Miami in a chartered jet and thousands filed past the open coffin at a funeral home before he was buried. Attending the funeral were general Somoza’s estranged

wife, Hope, their five children, his 86-yeat-old mother and officials of the Nicaraguan Government he headed until fleeing Managua 14 months ago during the takeover by Sandinista forces. In Asuncion, Paraguay’s top police official has said that a Leftist guerrilla killed in a shoot-out with the police at the end of last week was the ringleader of the Somoza death squad. Pastor Coronel, Paraguay’s chief of investigations, said that the guerrilla, Hugo Alfredo Irurzun, had fought with the Sandinistas. Mr Coronel also said that he was "alfnost sure” that two Nicaraguan diplomats expelled from Paraguay last month were involved in planning the murder. The Nicaraguan Government has denied that it had anything to do with the assassination.

Opposition souces in Paraguay have said that Mr Coronel gave a warning sev-

eral weeks ago that armed terrorists had entered the country to kill Somoza, but Somoza’s ■ guard was not reinforced. As a result of Somoza’s assassination, the sources said, the Army general responsible for protecting Somoza has been relieved of some of the police power he exercised.

Meanwhile, Somoza’s mistress for 18 years, Dinorah Sampson, said she expected to be “taken care of” in his will. She denied that there was any friction between her and Somoza’s legal heirs, who took his body to Florida against her wish that it be buried in Paraguay. . Paraguay s international airport and borders remained closed for a fourth day as the police and military forces searched for the five to seven terrorists who killed Somoza, his chauffeur, and a financial adviser.