Somosa Debayle, Louis

The eldest son of dictator A. Somosa. He served as president after the murder of his father, Anastasio Somosa . The day after his inauguration on May 2, 1957, he declared war on Honduras , but soon hostilities were discontinued through the mediation of the OAS .

He studied engineering in the USA at the universities of Louisiana , California and Maryland . Then, in accordance with the family tradition, according to which the eldest in the family received the presidency, and the next in seniority, the post of commander of the National Guard, took this last post.

During his reign, a period of aggravation of the political situation in the entire region in connection with the revolution in Cuba , and specifically the political situation in Nicaragua fell. It was in his reign, in 1961, that the Sandinista Front of National Liberation was founded. At the end of his term of office, Luis Somosa delegated to the presidency a long-time friend of the family - Rene Schick Gutierrez, but Luis Somosa did not run for a new term after his term due to poor health; the candidate from the ruling party was his younger brother, Anastasio Somosa Jr.

Since 1958, armed actions against the regime began in Nicaragua, especially intensified in 1959 - 1960 . after the victory of the Cuban revolution .

In May 1959, a rebel detachment landed in Nicaragua from Cuban planes, but the following year, L. Somosa mainly managed to liquidate partisan groups. The attempt to “export” the revolution from Cuba failed. As a response, Luis Somosa allowed the United States to set up a contra camp for Nicaraguan Cuban immigrants in Nicaragua and use the country's territory as a springboard for the invasion of Cuba ( April 17, 1961 , landing in the Gulf of Pigs ).

In 1962, in the mountains near the Rio Coco River, the Somosa troops defeated the first partisan detachments of the Sandinista National Liberation Front created a year earlier, and the country experienced a relative lull for some time, sometimes interrupted by rare raids by partisans from Honduras and expropriations by Sandinists in Nicaraguan bank branches.

In 1963 , wanting to “democratize” the facade of the regime, Luis Somosa held a “presidential election”, holding the presidency of Rene Schick Guttieres, the former personal secretary of his father, A. Somosa. L. Somosa himself actually continued to lead the country. As a result of repressions and anti-partisan operations under his rule in Nicaragua, up to 90,000 people died, according to estimates.

Luis Somosa died in Managua on April 13, 1967 from a heart attack, a few months after the presidential election in Nicaragua.

• Biography on hrono.info
• Luis Anastasio Somoza Is Dead; President of Nicaragua 7 Years . New York Times, April 14, 1967, p. 39 (April 14, 1967). Date of treatment October 2, 2012. Archived October 18, 2012.