The Carter administration had viewed the US-created Nicaraguan National Guard as a means to keep the Sandinistas from exclusive power, and had taken measures to preserve at least parts of it when Somoza was defeated.

Although the FDN had its roots in two groups made up of former National Guardsmen ( of the Somoza regime ), its joint political directorate was led by businessman and former anti-Somoza activist Adolfo Calero Portocarrero.

Born into a working-class family, from an early age Ortega developed a hatred of the ruling President Anastasio Somoza Debayle, who was widely recognized as a dictator, and became involved in the underground movement to oppose Somoza's regime.

Anastasio Somoza García, a close friend of the American government, was put in charge.

With U. S. support, Anastasio Somoza García outmaneuvered his political opponents, including Sandino ( who was executed by National Guard officers in February 1934 ), and took over the presidency in 1936.

The Liberal Nationalist Party ( Partido Liberal Nacionalista — PLN ) was established with support from a faction of the Conservative Party to support Somoza Garcia's candidacy.

Somoza was elected president in the December election by the remarkable margin of 107, 201 votes to 108.

Somoza García was succeeded by his two sons.

Luis Somoza Debayle became President ( 29 September 1956 to 1 May 1963 ), and was effectively dictator of the country until his death, but his brother Anastasio Somoza Debayle held great power as head of the National Guard.

The opposition was extremely skeptical of Somoza's promises, and ultimately control of the country passed to Anastasio Somoza Debayle after Luis died of a heart attack in 1967.

It was assumed by many that Somoza had ordered his assassination ( evidence implicated Somoza's son and other members of the National Guard ).

Realizing that the Somoza dictatorship was unsustainable, the Carter administration attempted to force him to leave Nicaragua.

When ABC reporter Bill Stewart was executed by the National Guard, and graphic film of the killing was broadcast on American TV, the American public became more hostile to Somoza.

American support for the long rule of the Somoza family had soured relations, and the FSLN government was committed to a Marxist ideology, with many of the leading Sandinista continuing long-standing relationships with the Soviet Union and Cuba.

The victim of countless detentions, torture, and persecution, Laíno was forced into exile in 1982 following the publication of a critical book about ex-Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Somoza Debayle, who was assassinated in Asunción in 1980.

Perhaps the clearest example of cracks in Stroessner's regime was the assassination of Somoza.

Sandino was assassinated in 1934 by the Nicaraguan National Guard (), the US-equipped police force of Anastasio Somoza, whose family ruled the country from 1936 until they were overthrown by the Sandinistas in 1979.

The " Insurrectional Tendency ", also known as the " Third Way " or Terceristas, led by Daniel Ortega, his brother Humberto Ortega, and Mexican-born Victor Tirado Lopez, was more pragmatic and called for tactical, temporary alliances with non-communists, including the right-wing opposition, in a popular front against the Somoza regime.

The moderate " Broad Opposition Front " ( Frente Amplio Opositor-FAO ) which opposed Somoza was made up of a conglomeration of dissidents within the government as well as the " Democratic Union of Liberation " ( UDEL ) and the " Twelve ", representatives of the Terceristas.

On June 4, a general strike was called by the FSLN to last until Somoza fell and an uprising was launched in Managua.

Unlike Spanish-speaking western Nicaragua, the Atlantic Coast is predominantly English-speaking and was largely ignored by the Somoza regime.

* 1979 – Nicaraguan president General Anastasio Somoza Debayle resigns and flees to Miami, Florida.

President Anastasio Somoza Debayle owned the largest slaughterhouse in Nicaragua, as well as six meat-packing plants in Miami, Florida.

As Nicaragua's government collapsed and the National Guard commanders escaped with Somoza, the U. S. first promised and then denied them exile in Miami.

On July 17, Somoza resigned, handed over power to Francisco Urcuyo, and fled to Miami.

* July 17 – Nicaraguan dictator General Anastasio Somoza Debayle resigns and flees to Miami, Florida.

In July 1979, Somoza resigned the presidency and fled to Miami in a converted Curtiss C-46.

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.

Somoza fled Nicaragua for Miami on July 17, and the regime was overthrown on July 19, 1979, less than a month after Stewart's murder.

At this point, on 17 July 1979 Somoza Debayle resigned from office and fled the country by plane to Miami, FL., followed suit by almost all the senior military officers of the GN General Staff.

Anastasio Somoza Portocarrero ( born February 1, 1951 in Miami, Florida ) is a son of former Nicaraguan president Anastasio Somoza Debayle and Hope Portocarrero de Somoza.

Somoza García benefited from Sacasa's diminishing power, and at the same time brought together the National Guard and the Liberal Party ( Partido Liberal-PL ) in order to win the presidential elections in 1936.

In December 1974, a guerrilla group affiliated with FSLN seized government hostages at a party in the house of the Minister of Agriculture in the Managua suburb Los Robles, among them several leading Nicaraguan officials and Somoza relatives.

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.

Team member Oswaldo, disguised as a paper boy, watched Somoza exit the estate and signaled when he was leaving at 10: 10 A. M.

Somoza Falling: A Case Study of Washington at Work.

In trying to cajole President Carter into supporting Somoza, he fought in the House Appropriations Committee, and at one point threatened to wreck President Carter's Panama Canal Treaty if the U. S. did not continue supporting Somoza.

And when Wilson set up a meeting between Somoza and an allegedly former CIA operative, at a small party where booze was flowing freely, Somoza was initially delighted at the offer of a 1000-man squad of ex-CIA operatives to fight on Somoza's behalf.

But in a drunken stupor, Somoza made the mistake of fondling Tina Simmons, a secretary of Wilson's who was also his girlfriend at the time.

( It was not Wilson but Somoza's mistress, Dinorah, who was present at the meeting and who went into a rage, ripping Somoza from Tina.

Wilson was so embarrassed at the situation and his awkward attempt to hijack U. S. foreign policy that, after word of the meeting leaked out, he abandoned his support for Somoza.

The president at the time, Anastasio Somoza Debayle, rejected the idea and threatened the group with harsh reprisals if they met again.

Among the hostages taken were members of the Nicaraguan Congress, which was in session at the time of the attack, and Somoza's half brother, José Somoza.

Later, at the end of the 1970s, Jinotega was a place of bitter war between the troops of Anastasio Somoza Debayle and the civilian rebel population.

Increasingly pervasive corruption comparable to a gangland mob, with bribery, kickbacks, and sometimes violent enforcement, protected the power of the Somoza family at all levels.

Succeeded in the presidency by one son, Luis Somoza Debayle, he was succeeded as head of the National Guard by another, Anastasio Somoza Debayle, a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point.

Somoza ’ s successor as head of state, interim President Francisco Urcuyo Maliaños opened negotiations for a cease-fire but at the same time tried to strengthen his political position by filling with younger colonels and lieutenants colonels the depleted National Guard ´ s General Staff, now headed by the new Chief Director Lt. Col. ( later General ) Federico Mejía González.

In January 1978 National Guard overall strength peaked at about 25, 000 officers and enlisted men under the direct personal command of their Chief Director and President of Nicaragua General Anastasio Somoza Debayle ( aka ‘ Tachito ’).