Somoza family


The Somoza family was an autocratic family dictatorship in Nicaragua that lasted forty-three years, from 1936 to 1979.

History

assumed the presidency after luring rebel leader Augusto César Sandino to peace talks, and murdering him soon afterwards. Somoza mended the Nicaraguan Constitution, concentrating power in his hands, and appointed his relatives and cronies to top government positions. Although Somoza and his two sons legally held the presidency for only 30 of those 43 years, they were the power behind other presidents in the intervening years. They continued to control the National Guard. The differences in the Somozas' ruling style, from father to son, reflected their adaptation to the U.S.-Latin American policy. Their regime was overthrown in 1979 by the Sandinista National Liberation Front during the Nicaraguan Revolution.
For their more than four decades in power, the Somoza family accumulated wealth through corporate bribes, industrial monopolies, land grabbing, and foreign aid siphoning. By the 1970s, the family owned 23 percent of the land in Nicaragua. The family wealth reached $533 million, which amounted to half of Nicaragua's debt and 33 percent of the country's 1979 GDP.
Three of the Somozas served as President of Nicaragua. They were:
Other members of the Somoza family include: