Anastasio Somoza García

President of Nicaragua

1 February 1896 San Marcos, Carazo, Nicaragua

29 September 1956(1956-09-29) (60) Ancón, Panama Canal Zone, Panama

21 May 1950 – 29 September 1956

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Somoza and the second or maternal family name is García. Anastasio "Tacho" Somoza García (1 February 1896 – 29 September 1956) was officially the 21st President of Nicaragua from 1 January 1937 to 1 May 1947 and from 21 May 1950 to 29 September 1956, but ruled effectively as dictator from 1937 until his assassination. Anastasio Somoza started the Somoza family, a family dictatorship that maintained absolute control over Nicaragua for 42 years. The son of a wealthy coffee planter, Somoza was educated in the United States. After his return to Nicaragua, he helped oust President Adolfo Díaz. He became the foreign secretary and took the title of "General". With the help of the US Marine Corps, which occupied Nicaragua at the time, Somoza became the head of the National Guard. This gave him the power base to remove his wife's uncle, Juan Bautista Sacasa, from the presidency, and make himself president in 1937. In 1947, an ally nominally succeeded him, but he retained power. A month after his successor had been inaugurated, Somoza used the military to carry out a coup. The president was declared 'incapacitated' by Congress and Somoza served in his stead. Returning to power in his own name in 1950, he maintained an iron grip on his own Liberal Party while making a deal with the Conservatives; thus, he faced no opposition. This left him free to amass a huge personal fortune. On 21 September 1956, he was shot by poet Rigoberto López Pérez. Mortally wounded, he was flown to the Panama Canal Zone where he died a week later. His eldest son Luis Somoza Debayle, who was Speaker of the House at the time of Somoza Garcia's death, took over and was elected in his own right in 1957 to serve until 1963, to be succeeded by Dr. Rene Schick who served until his death in 1966. His term was completed by Lorenzo Guerrero. In 1967 his younger brother Anastasio Somoza Debayle was elected to serve until 1972. He was reelected in 1974 after a Constituent Assembly that lasted from 1972 to 1974. During that time the country was ruled by a coalition junta of conservatives and Liberals. Somoza Debayle was forced to resign in 1979 and was assassinated in exile in Paraguay the following year.