death_date children nationality birth_date term_end death_place profession order term_start spouse image name caption predecessor birth_place party successor religion article_title
29 september 1956 lillian somoza debayle luis somoza debayle anastasio somoza debayle nicaraguan 1 february 1896 1 may 1947 29 september 1956 ancón , panama canal zone , panama military , politician president of nicaragua 1 january 1937 21 may 1950 salvadora debayle sacasa 1919 1956 ; his death somoza 1952 -lrb- centrée -rrb- . jpg anastasio somoza garcía somoza 1952 . during his visit in the dominican republic , carlos alberto brenes manuel fernando zurita san marcos , nicaragua nationalist liberal party leonardo argüello barreto luis somoza debayle roman catholicism anastasio somoza garcía

anastasio somoza garcía

anastasio `` tacho '' somoza garcía -lrb- 1 february 1896 -- 29 september 1956 -rrb- was officially the president of nicaragua from 1 january 1937 to 1 may 1947 and from 21 may 1950 to 29 september 1956 , but ruled effectively as dictator from 1936 until his assassination .
anastasio somoza started a dynasty that maintained absolute control over nicaragua for 44 years .
the son of a wealthy coffee planter , somoza was educated in the united states .
after his return to nicaragua , he helped oust president adolfo díaz .
he became the foreign secretary and took the title of `` general . ''
with the help of the us marine corps , which occupied nicaragua at the time , somoza became the head of the national guard .
this gave him the power base to remove his wife 's uncle , juan bautista sacasa , from the presidency , and make himself president in 1937 .
in 1947 , an ally nominally succeeded him , but he retained power .
a month after his successor had been inaugurated , somoza used the military to carry out a coup .
the president was declared ` incapacitated ' by congress and somoza served in his stead .
returning to power in his own name in 1951 , he maintained an iron grip on his own liberal party while making a deal with the conservatives ; thus , he faced no opposition .
this left him free to amass a huge personal fortune .
on 21 september 1956 , he was shot by poet rigoberto lópez pérez .
mortally wounded , he was flown to the panama canal zone where he died a week later .
his eldest son luis somoza debayle took over , to be succeeded by his younger brother anastasio somoza debayle , who was forced to flee in 1979 and assassinated in exile in paraguay the following year .
