City Hall, Radio Station Seized by Sandinistas

Militants seized control of a radio station and City Hall on Tuesday to protest a move to revoke laws that gave thousands of Sandinistas free property in the final months of their decade of rule.

No one was seriously hurt in the takeovers at Radio Corporacion, a rightist station, and at City Hall. In both cases, masked men identifying themselves as Sandinistas forced their way into the buildings and vowed to remain inside.

The laws they are trying to protect were approved by the leftist Sandinista government after it lost the February, 1990, election but before center-right President Violeta Barrios de Chamorro took office two months later.

The measures specified that anyone using confiscated property became the immediate owner and enabled city governments to give vacant property away to almost anyone who asked.

Sandinista officials and followers got cars, office supplies, computers and small farms and houses. Higher-ranking officials got luxurious homes seized from Nicaraguans who left the country after the 1979 Sandinista revolution.

The National Assembly had scheduled a bill revoking the law for debate on Tuesday. With 39 Sandinista deputies absent in protest and three government legislators also absent, the 50 remaining deputies voted unanimously to send the bill to committee.