Somoza, Anastasio, 1896-1956, president of Nicaragua (1937-47, 1950-56). After the end (1933) of U.S. military intervention in Nicaragua, he rose to power as head of the national guard. Though himself a member of the Liberal party, he engineered (1936) a successful coup against the incumbent Liberal regime. In 1937 he formally assumed the presidency. In 1947 he withdrew, but before a month had elapsed he ousted his successor and installed a puppet president. He was accused (1948) by Costa Rica of aiding a group of rebels bent on overthrowing the liberal regime in that country. The Organization of American States investigated the charges, ruled in favor of Costa Rica, and reprimanded Somoza. Undeterred, he had himself reelected in 1950 over the ineffectual opposition of Emiliano Chamorro and continued his dictatorial rule and provocations against Costa Rica. He maintained, however, very cordial relations with the United States. On Sept. 21, 1956, he was shot; eight days later he died. His son, Luis Somoza, succeeded him to the presidency.

Anastasio ("Tachito") Somoza Debayle (December 5, 1925 – September 17, 1980) was officially the forty-fourth and forty-fifth President of Nicaragua from May 1, 1967 to May 1, 1972 and from December 1, 1974 to July 17, 1979. As head of the National Guard, he was ruler of the country from 1967 to 1979. He was the last member of the Somoza family to be President, ending a dynasty that had held power since 1936.

Name

As is customary in Spanish-speaking countries, he was given both his father's and mother's last names, Somoza being his father's surname and Debayle being his mother's surname. Debayle is of French origin.

Biography

He was the second son of Anastasio Somoza García, president of Nicaragua since 1937. The younger Anastasio, nicknamed "Tachito" (his father's nickname was "Tacho") was initially educated in St. Leo College Prep (Florida) and La Salle Military Academy (Long Island) before graduating from the United States Military Academy on June 6, 1946. The following year, he was appointed head of the National Guard by his father, who had previously given many important posts to family members and close personal friends. As commander of the Guard, he was effectively the second most powerful man in Nicaragua. On December 10, 1950, he married Hope Portocarrero, his first cousin, with whom he had five children: Anastasio, Julio, Carolina, Carla, and Roberto.

Following his father's assassination on September 21, 1956, Somoza's elder brother, Luis Somoza, took over the presidency. Anastasio had a large hand in the government during this time and saw to it that the presidency was held by politicians loyal to his family from 1963 to 1967. On 1 May, 1967, shortly before the death of his brother, Anastasio Somoza was himself elected president for the first time. While Luis had ruled more gently than his father had, Anastasio's rule soon resembled that of his father in all significant aspects.

His term in office was due to end in May 1972, due to a law which disallowed immediate re-election. However, prior to that, Somoza worked out an agreement allowing him to stand for re-election in 1974; he would be replaced as president by a three-man junta consisting of two Liberals and one Conservative while retaining control of the National Guard. Somoza and his triumvirate drew up a new constitution that was ratified by the triumvirate and the cabinet on April 3, 1971. He then stepped down as president on May 1, 1972. However, as head of the National Guard, he remained the de facto ruler of the country.

On December 23, 1972, an earthquake struck the nation's capital Managua, killing around ten thousand people, and virtually destroying the city. Martial law was declared, making Somoza ruler of the country once again in name as well as in fact. He took over as head of a National Emergency Committee. The Somoza family was widely accused of pocketing aid sent to the country from abroad; indeed, parts of Managua have never been rebuilt or restored, including the National Cathedral. Roberto Clemente, whose ill-fated trip to Managua was intended to safeguard earthquake supplies, died in a plane crash while traveling to Nicaragua.

Somoza was re-elected president in the 1974 election, partially due to his declaring nine opposition parties illegal. By this time, the Catholic church had begun to speak against his government. (Indeed, one of his fiercest critics was Ernesto Cardenal, a leftist Nicaraguan priest who preached liberation theology and would become the Sandinista government's Minister of Culture.) By the late 1970s, human rights groups were condemning the record of the Somoza government, while support for the Sandinistas was growing inside and outside the country.

In 1975 Somoza Debayle launched a violent campaign against the Sandinista Front; individuals suspected of supporting the Front were targeted. The Front, named after Augusto César Sandino, began its guerrilla war against the Somozas in 1963 and was funded by Cuba under Fidel Castro and the Soviet Union. Support for the Sandinistas ballooned after the earthquake, especially when Jimmy Carter withdrew American support for the regime. This proved critical, since the Somozas had been able to hold onto power largely because the United States saw them as a bulwark against communism. At this point, the opposition to the Somozas included not only Sandinistas, but other prominent figures such as Pedro Chamorro (assassinated on January 10, 1978). In 1979, Somoza resigned the presidency and fled to Miami in a converted Curtiss C-46 where he was denied entry by Jimmy Carter. He later took refuge in Alfredo Stroessner's Paraguay; his regime only survived him by a day, whereupon the Sandinistas took control of the country.

Anastasio Somoza Debayle was assassinated in Asunción, Paraguay, at the age of 54, by a Sandinista commando team using Soviet-made machine guns and RPG-7 anti-tank grenade launchers, and led by the Argentinian Marxist revolutionary Enrique Gorriarán Merlo an ex-ERP (Ejército Revolucionario del Pueblo) member. This episode is described by Gorriarán Merlo himself in his book Memorias ("Memories") ISBN 950-49-1063-7.

The small Sandinista assassination team was waiting in ambush for Somoza as he was being chauffered about the city in an unarmored Mercedes. The team fired a RPG-7 anti-tank shell at the car from close range. The warhead tore open and incinerated Somoza's Mercedes-Benz S-Class, killing him instantly. Somoza was later buried in Miami, Florida at Woodlawn Park Cemetery and Mausoleum (now Caballero Rivero Woodlawn North Park Cemetery and Mausoleum) .

A few months before Somoza’s death, his memoirs, Nicaragua Betrayed, were published. In them he blamed the Carter Administration for his downfall. His son, Anastasio Somoza Portocarrero, went into exile in Guatemala.

Former National Intelligence Officer for Latin America and Cuba expert, Professor Brian Latell, argues in his book After Fidel, that the plan to assassinate Somoza was devised in Havana with direct input from Fidel Castro. According to him, the Sandinistas had won power in July 1979 with the assistance of massive, covert Cuban military aid. Along with his brother Raúl Castro, the two masterminded a complex multinational covert action to provide the Sandinistas with huge quantites of modern armaments. Cuban intelligence and paramilitary advisors poured into Nicaragua along with the equipment. Latell states that the evidence indicated that the assassination operation was similar to other assassination operations Cuban intelligence had been involved in, and that Somoza was a long-time nemesis of Castro after he provided critical support to the U.S. for the failed Bay of Pigs operation in 1961.

Further reading

• Ally Betrayed...Nicaragua ed. by John Rees
• At the Fall of Somoza by Lawrence Pezzullo
• Death of Somoza by Claribel Alegria and Darwin J. Flakoll
• Dictators Never Die: Nicaragua and the Somoza Dynasty by Eduardo Crawley
• Nicaragua Betrayed by Anastasio Somoza (as told to Jack Cox)
• Nicaragua Traicionada by Anastasio Somoza (Spanish version of Nicaragua Betrayed)
• Somoza Falling by Anthony Lake
• Somoza's Last Stand: Testimonies from Nicaragua by Larry Towell
• Under the Big Stick: Nicaragua and the United States Since 1848 Karl Berman, Boston: South End Press, 1986.
• A History Of The Nicaraguan Contras by David E. Persons, Stephen F. Austin University, Nacogdoches, Tx: Reserve Collections, 1987.