Somoza (1933–79). Nicaraguan dictatorship
Anastasio Somoza García (b. 1896, d. 1956) was the son of a wealthy coffee planter. Educated in the USA, he returned to US-occupied Nicaragua in 1926, where he became head of the US-trained National Guard in 1932. He became the most powerful man in Nicaragua after the withdrawal of the US troops in 1933, and proceeded to eliminate all opposition, e.g. through ordering the execution of
Sandino. In 1937 he removed President Sacasa (in power since 1933) to take over the office himself. He continued to rule as an unfailing ally of the USA, and with the support of both the National Guard and the landed elite, whom he endowed with wealth, influence, and money. He was shot on a visit to Panama, and even the personal doctor of
Eisenhower, sent over by the concerned US President himself, was unable to save him.
He was succeeded by his eldest son,
Luis Anastasio Somoza Debayle (b. 1922, d. 1967), who carried out some half-hearted social reforms. Any interest in improving the social conditions of the population, however, was abandoned under his successor, his brother
Anastasio Somoza Debayle (b. 1925, d. 1980). He was even more ruthless than his predecessors, and this eventually lost him the support, most crucially, of the USA. A year later, his regime collapsed. He was assassinated in exile in 1980.
