Somoza family

The Somoza family (Spanish: Familia Somoza) is a political family which ruled Nicaragua under a dictatorship over a period of forty-three years, from 1936 to 1979. Founder, Anastasio Somoza García – who served as the President of Nicaragua from 1937 until 1956 – was succeeded by his two sons; the eldest, Luis Somoza Debayle from 1957 to 1963, and youngest, Anastasio Somoza Debayle, serving for two presidential terms between 1967–1972 and 1974–1979. Although the Somozas did not hold the presidency for the full forty-three years, their political influence was continuously exacted via the installation of puppet presidents and ongoing control of the National Guard.

While the Somoza family moved towards modernizing Nicaragua, their rule featured repression and inequality. Over four decades, the Somoza family accumulated wealth through corporate bribes, land-grabbing and foreign-aid siphoning. The family received support from the government of the United States, and the leadership styles of each Somoza president was different from one another.

Ultimately, the Somoza family was overthrown by the socialist Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) during the Nicaraguan Revolution of 1961–1990. Widespread discontent with the Somoza regime emerged following the Managua earthquake of 1972. Anastasio Somoza Debayle declared himself the Head of the National Emergency Committee and used his power to participate in looting and in the mismanagement of international-aid funding. Discomfort increased in the light of the rise of the Sandinista National Liberation Front and in response to the Somoza government's human-rights violations. Various opposition groups emerged, and two key approaches to overthrow the dictatorship became clear. While the Broad Opposition Front (Spanish: Frente Amplio Opositor, FAO) attempted to reach a solution via negotiation, the FSLN pushed insurrection. When negotiations failed, the insurrection movement, with military support from the Soviet Union through Cuba, launched a successful offensive into the cities, with human rights violations committed by the National Guard resulting in the Somoza government's international, political and military isolation. On 17 July 1979, Anastasio Somoza Debayle resigned as President of Nicaragua, marking the end of the Somoza-family dictatorship.

The family accumulated wealth through corporate bribes, industrial monopolies, land grabbing, and foreign aid siphoning. By the 1970s, the family owned around 23 percent of the land in Nicaragua. The Somoza's wealth is speculated to have reached approximately $533 million, which amounted to half of Nicaragua's debt and 33 percent of the country's 1979 GDP.