Chamorro Takes Office in Managua;Sandinista Retained as Military Chief
Violeta Chamorro, the newspaper publisher who promised to heal the scars of civil war and reunite the Nicaraguan people, was inaugurated as president today, ending nearly 11 years of leftist Sandinista rule.</br></br>Chamorro immediately proposed a sweeping amnesty covering political crimes, declared herself defense minister and pledged civilian authority over the armed forces, ended the unpopular military draft and ordered the army to to establish a plan to reduce its ranks.</br></br>In a controversial move, Chamorro also said today that she had retained Sandinista Gen. Humberto Ortega, brother of outgoing president Daniel Ortega, as armed forces chief of staff.</br></br>"Nicaragua will bury its arms forever so that the sound of the cannon will never roar again," Chamorro told the inaugural audience, borrowing a phrase from the national anthem. "All can be brothers. That's what my maternal instinct tells me."</br></br>Chamorro also promised a free-market economy with elimination of controls on production that were a hallmark of Nicaragua's centralized economy under the Sandinistas.