Anastasio Somoza Debayle (5 December 1925-17 September 1980) was President of Nicaragua from 1 May 1967 to 17 July 1979, succeeding Lorenzo Guerrero and preceding Francisco Urcuyo.
Biography[]
Anastasio Somoza Debayle was born on 5 December 1925 in Leon, Nicaragua, the son of Anastasio Somoza Garcia and a mother of French origin, Salvadora Debayle Sacasa. He entered West Point in the United States in 1943 and was trained as an officer of the Nicaraguan Army, serving in the army while the Somoza family ruled over the country. In 1967, he was elected President of Nicaragua shortly before the death of his brother Luis Somoza Debayle, and he led a three-man junta in an alliance of the liberal and conservative parties of the country. In 1972, an earthquake struck the capital of Managua, virtually destroying the city, and his government's cruelty increased the suffering of the Nicaraguan people, with Sandinistas attempting to install a communist government in Nicaragua. On 17 July 1979, as the Sandinistas increased their uprisings against the government, Somoza resigned as president, ending the Nicaraguan Revolution. On 17 September 1980, he was ambushed by seven Sandinistas in Asuncion, Paraguay while being a guest of Alfredo Stroessner and was killed.