ABSTRACT
Anastasio Somoza Debayle (1925-1980) succeeded his brother Luís as commander of the Nicaraguan National Guard in 1963, and, as effective ruler of Nicaragua until his overthrow by the Sandinistas in 1979, continued a family tradition of dictatorship and corruption established by his father, Anastasio Somoza García (1896-1956) in 1936. He was assassinated by Argentine guerrillas in Asunción, Paraguay, in 1980.
