Luis Somoza Debayle

Luis Anastasio Somoza Debayle (born November 18, 1922 in León , † April 13, 1967 in Managua , Nicaragua ) was President of Nicaragua from 1956 to 1963. He was a member of the Somoza clan , which had held the presidency since 1934.

Life

Luis Somoza was the first son of Anastasio Somoza García . He joined the National Guard in 1944 and trained as an officer .

After the murder of his father Anastasio Somoza Garcias in 1956, who had campaigned for President Nicaragua against his uncle Juan Bautista Sacasa in 1937, he followed suit and relied on his younger brother Anastasio Somoza Debayle , who in 1947 was headed by her father National Guard had been raised.

During his reign, the most influential posts in the country were occupied by family members or informers, so that Somoza could dictatorially rule the country. He aligned his regime closely with the United States and helped the CIA prepare for the Bay of Pigs invasion , which had been secretly prepared in Nicaragua.

During his reign came the first attacks and the growth of the Sandinista opposition, which escalated into a bloody civil war until 1979.

Somoza died of a heart attack at the age of 45. His coffin was originally located next to his father's in Managua, but was taken along with him on the escape of the Somoza family in 1979 and is now in the family's mausoleum in Miami ( Florida ) at Caballero Rivero Woodlawn Park North Cemetery and Mausoleum next to his younger brother Anastasio and father laid out.

He was married to Isabel Urcuyo Rodríguez . His son Alvaro had opposed this during the family rule and has recently become active on the democratic side of the Nicaraguan political scene.

Honors

• 1959: Special level of the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany

Web links

• Information on Somoza

predecessor	Office	successor
Anastasio Somoza García	President of Nicaragua 1956–1963	René Schick Gutiérrez