On this day in 1978, prominent critic of the Nicaraguan Somoza regime Pedro Chamorro was assassinated in downtown Managua. His death led to a popular uprising against the government, successfully ousting Anastasio Somoza in 1979.

Pedro Joaquín Chamorro Cardenal served as editor of "La Prensa", the only significant opposition newspaper to the rule of the Somoza family, which had ruled the country since 1937. Chamorro was also an activist who founded the Democratic Union of Liberation (UDEL).

According to his widow, Violeta, Chamorro remained a staunch critic of the government despite being arrested, tortured, and being made aware of plans of his own assassination. In 1975, Chamorro wrote to Somoza, stating "I am waiting, with a clear conscience, and a soul at peace, for the blow you are to deliver."

On January 10th, 1978, at 53 years old, Chamorro was shot 18 times by three men in a car who forced his auto to the curb. In the aftermath of his death, tens of thousands of Nicaraguans took to the streets in anti-government protests. A general strike broke out in the capital Managua, paralyzing the city.

The following year, the decades long rule of the Somoza regime finally came to an end when Anastasio Somoza was ousted, fleeing to Miami. The anti-capitalist Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) came into power, making significant gains in literacy, health care, education, childcare, unions, and land reform.

In 1990, Pedro's widow Violeta Charmorro became the first and only female President of Nicaragua, serving until 1997.