Anastasio Somoza Debayle Anastasio ( " Tachito " ) Somoza Debayle ( ) ( 5 December 1925 – 17 September 1980 ) was a Nicaraguan leader and officially the 73rd and 76th President of Nicaragua from 1 May 1967 to 1 May 1972 and from 1 December 1974 to 17 July 1979 . As head of the National Guard , he was de facto ruler of the country from 1967 to 1979 . He was the last member of the Somoza family to be President , ending a dynasty that had been in power since 1936 . After being overthrown in an insurrection led by the FSLN , he fled Nicaragua in exile and power was ceded to the Junta of National Reconstruction . He was eventually assassinated while in exile in Paraguay . Name . As is customary in most Spanish - speaking countries , he was given both his father ' s and mother ' s last names , Somoza being his father ' s surname and Debayle being his mother ' s surname . Debayle is of French origin . Early years . Anastasio Somoza Debayle , nicknamed " Tachito " ( Spanish : " Little Tacho " ) by his father , was the third child of Anastasio Somoza García and Salvadora Debayle . At the age of seven , he was enrolled at the Instituto Pedagógico La Salle , run by the Christian Brothers . One of his classmates was Pedro Joaquín Chamorro Cardenal , who would grow up to become one of the most prominent opponents of the Somoza dynasty . From the age of ten , Tachito was educated in the United States . He and older brother Luis Somoza Debayle , both attended St . Leo College Prep ( Florida ) and La Salle Military Academy ( Long Island ) . He passed the examination for West Point , entered the United States Military Academy on July 3 , 1943 , and graduated on June 6 , 1946 . Two years after his return from West Point , he fathered a daughter , Patricia , who was later sent to a series of schools abroad . Also after his return , he was appointed chief of staff of the National Guard , ( Nicaragua ' s national army ) , by his father , who had previously given many important posts to family members and close personal friends . As commander of the Guard , Somoza was head of the nation ' s armed forces , effectively the second most powerful man in Nicaragua . On 10 December 1950 , he and Hope Portocarrero , an American citizen and his first cousin , were married at the Cathedral in Managua by Archbishop Jose Antonio Lezcano . Over 4 , 000 guests attended the ceremony . The reception was given by President Anastasio Somoza García in the luxurious and modern Palacio de Comunicaciones . They had five children : Following his father ' s assassination on 21 September 1956 , Somoza ' s elder brother , Luis , took over the presidency . Anastasio had a large hand in the government during this time and saw to it that the presidency was held by politicians loyal to his family from 1963 to 1967 . Presidency . On 1 May 1967 , shortly before the death of his brother , Anastasio Somoza was himself elected president for the first time . While Luis had ruled more gently than his father had , Anastasio was intolerant of opposition of any sort , and his regime soon resembled his father ' s in all significant respects . His term in office was due to end in May 1972 , due to a law which disallowed immediate re - election . However , prior to that , Somoza worked out an agreement allowing him to stand for re - election in 1974 ; he would be replaced as president by a three - man junta consisting of two Liberals and one Conservative while he retained control of the National Guard . Somoza and his triumvirate drew up a new constitution that was ratified by the triumvirate and the cabinet on April 3 , 1971 . He then stepped down as president on May 1 , 1972 . However , as head of the National Guard , he remained the " de facto " ruler of the country . On 23 December 1972 , an earthquake struck the nation ' s capital , Managua , killing about 5 , 000 people and virtually destroying the city . Martial law was declared , making Somoza the country ' s ruler in name as well as in fact once again . He then took over effective control as head of the National Emergency Committee . He reportedly embezzled many of the funds sent from across the world to help rebuild Managua . Indeed , some parts of Managua have never been rebuilt or restored , including the National Cathedral . Roberto Clemente , whose ill - fated trip to Managua was intended to safeguard earthquake supplies , died in a plane crash while traveling to Nicaragua . Somoza also allegedly was selling Nicaraguan blood plasma abroad , at the time of the earthquake , when medical supplies , including blood products , were desperately in short supply . Somoza was re - elected president in the 1974 election . By this time , the Catholic church had begun to speak against his government . ( Indeed , one of his fiercest critics was Ernesto Cardenal , a leftist Nicaraguan priest who preached liberation theology and would become the Sandinista government ' s Minister of Culture . ) By the late 1970s , human rights groups were condemning the record of the Somoza government , while support for the Sandinistas was growing inside and outside the country . Fall . In 1975 Somoza Debayle launched a campaign to crush the Sandinistas ; individuals suspected of supporting the Front were targeted . The Front , named after Augusto César Sandino ( a Nicaraguan rebel leader in the 1920s ) , began its guerrilla war against the Somozas in 1963 and was funded by Cuba under Fidel Castro and the Soviet Union . Support for the Sandinistas ballooned after the earthquake , especially when U . S President Jimmy Carter withdrew American support for the regime for human rights reasons . At this point , the opposition to the Somozas included not only Sandinistas , but other prominent figures such as Pedro Chamorro ( assassinated on January 10 , 1978 ) . Israel was the last supplier of weapons to the Somoza regime , because during the Israeli War of Independence in 1948 , Somoza ' s father provided substantial financial support for Israel . Carter forced the Israeli government to call back a ship carrying weapons vital to the survival of the Somoza regime . Because of his status , most of his family members were forced to flee into Honduras , Guatemala , and the United States . It is uncertain where the remaining Somozas live given the fact that they changed their names to protect their own lives . In July 1979 , Somoza resigned the presidency and fled to Miami in a converted Curtiss C - 46 . He was denied entry to the U . S . by President Carter . He later took refuge in Paraguay , then under the dictatorship of Alfredo Stroessner . He bought a ranch and a gated house at Avenida de España no . 433 in Asunción . Somoza ' s regime survived him by only a day , when the Sandinistas captured Managua . Assassination . Somoza was assassinated near his exile home on September 17 , 1980 . He was 54 years old . Somoza Debayle was ambushed by a seven - person Sandinista commando team ( four men and three women ) . This was known as " Operation Reptile " . The Sandinista team had two Soviet - made machine guns , two AK - 47 assault rifles , two automatic pistols , and an RPG - 7 rocket launcher with four anti - tank grenades and two rockets . The leader was Argentinian Marxist revolutionary Enrique Gorriarán Merlo ( code named " Ramon " ) , an ex - " Ejército Revolucionario del Pueblo " member . One of the team members said : " We cannot tolerate the existence of millionaire playboys while thousands of Latin Americans are dying of hunger . We are perfectly willing to give up our lives for this cause . " For over six months the Sandinista assassins researched and planned their assault . The team meticulously studied Somoza ' s movements with a team member who was staked out at a newspaper kiosk near the estate . They waited in ambush for Somoza in Avenida España . Somoza was often driven about the city in a presumed unarmored Mercedes - Benz S - Class sedan . Team member Oswaldo , disguised as a paper boy , watched Somoza exit the estate and signaled when he was leaving at 10 : 10 A . M . Once in position , Hugo Irurzún ( " Capitán Santiago " ) readied the RPG - 7 . He tried to fire an anti - tank rocket at the car , but the RPG - 7 misfired . Ramon then gunned down the chauffeur while Irurzún quickly reloaded the RPG with a new rocket . The second rocket made a direct hit on the sedan . Accounts mentioned that the Mercedes ' engine kept on running even after the rocket explosion . Previously the commando team had considered the possibility that Somoza ' s vehicle might indeed be equipped with forward - paneled armor . This would most likely deflect the rocket projectile upwards if hit from a frontal stance . The Sandinista team decided to engage with a lateral attack which would rule out any projectile deflection . Somoza was killed instantly and charred with the other two passengers in the car , his financial advisor Jou Baittiner and his new driver César Gallardo . Later media reports in Paraguay stated that Somoza ' s body was so unrecognizable that forensics had to identify him through his feet . Of the seven assassins , six escaped . Irurzún was later captured because of his blond beard and was executed . Somoza was buried in Miami at Woodlawn Park Cemetery and Mausoleum . A few months before Somoza ' s death , his memoirs , " Nicaragua Betrayed " , were published . In them he blamed the Carter Administration for his downfall . His son , Anastasio Somoza Portocarrero , went into exile in Guatemala . Former National Intelligence Officer for Latin America and Cuba expert Professor Brian Latell argues in his book " After Fidel " , that the plan to assassinate Somoza was devised in Havana with direct input from Fidel Castro . According to him , the Sandinistas had won power in July 1979 with the assistance of massive , covert Cuban military aid . Along with his brother Raúl Castro , the two masterminded a complex multinational covert action to provide the Sandinistas with huge quantities of modern armaments . Cuban intelligence and paramilitary advisors poured into Nicaragua along with the equipment . Latell states that the evidence indicated that the assassination operation was similar to other assassination operations Cuban intelligence had been involved in , and that Somoza was a long - time nemesis of Castro after he provided critical support to the U . S . in preparing for the Bay of Pigs Invasion of Cuba in April 1961 . Jorge Masetti , former Argentine guerrilla working with Cuban intelligence services , describes the Somoza assassination and Cuba ' s direct role in the planning in his autobiographical book In the Pirate ' s Den . His funeral became an occasion for wealthy Nicaraguan and Cuban exiles in South Florida to gather and protest the left - wing governments of Nicaragua under the FSLN and Cuba under Castro . However , other accounts note that this group in Miami was also relieved at Somoza ' s death because the newly founded Contra army , which consisted of many ex - members of Somoza ' s National Guard , would have to give the impression of having no relation to the old Somoza regime , for purposes of public relations and world opinion . In 1979 , the Brazilian newspaper " Gazeta Mercantil " estimated that the Somoza family ' s fortune amounted to between $ 2 billion and $ 4 billion with its head , Anastasio Somoza Debayle , owning $ 1 billion . In popular culture . Somoza was the subject of the 1983 film " Last Plane Out " where he was portrayed by actor Lloyd Battista . The film chronicles journalist Jack Cox ' s journey to Nicaragua when Somoza was battling insurgents . He also was depicted in another 1983 film , the Hollywood production " Under Fire " , set during the 1979 Nicaraguan Revolution , this time being portrayed by actor René Enriquez .