Fernando Chamorro Rappaccioli; Nicaraguan Guerrilla Leader

Fernando Chamorro Rappaccioli, 62, a Nicaraguan guerrilla leader who fought the U.S.-backed dictatorship of Anastasio Somoza and the Sandinista government that replaced it. Chamorro Rappaccioli gained a measure of fame in 1978 when he fired a rocket from Managua’s Intercontinental Hotel at Somoza’s headquarters. No one was injured but the brazen assault helped galvanize the Sandinista National Liberation Front, which overthrew Somoza in July, 1979. In 1979, when the Sandinistas began their final push to oust Somoza, Chamorro Rappaccioli fought in southern Nicaragua alongside Eden Pastora, known as “Commander Zero,” and entered Managua with him on July 19. Edmundo Chamorro, Fernando’s brother, said Fernando later became disenchanted with the sharp leftist turn of the Sandinistas after they took power. In Managua on Tuesday from complications of an embolism.