The Nicaraguan government appealed for aid , and the government accepted aid from countries like the United States and Mexico and some 25 other countries , worth millions of dollars . Despite this and the magnitude of the devastation , the aid was not distributed well and the ruling Liberal-Conservative Junta , led by President Anastasio Somoza Debayle , was the target of criticism and was accused of stockpiling foreign aid which never reached the victims of the earthquake . It was because of these reports that the Puerto Rican baseball star Roberto Clemente chose to personally accompany the fourth of a number of relief flights he had organized . That flight crashed on December 31 , 1972 , killing Clemente among others
crashed
1972 Puerto Rico DC-7 crash
1972 Nicaragua earthquake