The Somoza Dynasty, 1936–1979: A Dictatorship the US Backed for 43 Years

The Somoza dynasty ruled Nicaragua from 1936 to 1979, and throughout that time the country was backed by eight American presidents, from Roosevelt to Carter. The dictatorship was created by the American occupation itself, and that is exactly what makes the story telling. I do not know another example where Washington’s responsibility is so obvious and so neatly forgotten.

Let’s work out how the Somoza dynasty got power. The answer begins in 1927.

How the Somoza dynasty got power

In 1927–1933 the US occupied Nicaragua and created the National Guard. It was called “apolitical”, although American instructors trained it. Anastasio Somoza García came to command it. How it began is in my article on the bombing of Ocotal.

In February 1934 guardsmen killed Augusto Sandino, the leader of resistance to the occupation. Details are in my piece on the murder of Sandino. In 1936 Somoza became master of the country, and from 1937 its president. On earlier invasions see my article on William Walker in Nicaragua.

Three generations in power

Somoza García ruled until his assassination in 1956. Then power passed to his sons: Luis Somoza was president in 1956–1963, and Anastasio Somoza Debayle in 1967–1979. The latter graduated from West Point. In between, the country was run by the Guard through puppet presidents.

The family amassed an enormous fortune, estimated at hundreds of millions of dollars. Land, banks, an airline, a port and the profits from relief after the 1972 earthquake belonged to the clan.

What the US provided

American support was not verbal but quite material.

Weapons and training. Americans trained and supplied the Guard. Officers went through schools in the Panama Canal Zone.

Money. Aid and loans flowed continuously.

Territory. Nicaragua served as a staging ground against its neighbours. In 1954 the coup in Guatemala was supported from here, which I wrote about in my article on the intervention in Guatemala. In 1961 Brigade 2506 sailed from Puerto Cabezas for the Bay of Pigs landing.

The phrase “Somoza may be a son of a bitch, but he’s our son of a bitch” is attributed to Roosevelt, but it is not reliably confirmed. Nevertheless it conveys the logic: loyalty and anticommunism were valued above human rights.

The end of the regime

In 1977 Carter cut military aid over human rights violations. However, in 1978–1979 he could not, and did not try to, save the regime. The murder of the editor Pedro Joaquín Chamorro in January 1978 blew the country up.

In July 1979 the Sandinistas won. Somoza fled to the US, then to Paraguay, where he was killed in 1980. Later Washington answered the Sandinista victory by arming the Contras.

The 1972 earthquake and the end of patience

The clan’s behaviour after the Managua earthquake of 23 December 1972 is the most telling. About ten thousand people died, and foreign aid poured into the country. However, a considerable part of the money ended up in the hands of Somoza and his circle. Therefore discontent spread even to those who had earlier supported the regime, including businessmen.

Moreover, in 1956 the founder of the dynasty was killed: he was shot by the poet Rigoberto López Pérez. Nevertheless the dynasty did not fall, because the Guard remained the same. Thus the regime rested not on the love of the people but on American weapons and money. When Carter cut military aid and the Sandinista Front gained strength, Somoza’s empire collapsed within two years. More on the family in the reference article on the Somoza family. And the Contras, whom Washington began arming under Reagan, became a new chapter of the same story.

Why the Somoza dynasty lasted so long

If you ask why the Somoza dynasty did not fall earlier, the answer is simple: nobody touched it. For example, Washington turned a blind eye every year to censorship and rigged elections. Moreover, Nicaragua had a system in which every official depended on the family and every Guard officer received a share in the clan’s business. Therefore the regime rested not only on fear but also on greed.

Note that this scheme is easy to recognise today. A “reliable” man is chosen, given weapons and money, and human rights are remembered only when he slips out of control. Thus the Somoza dynasty is not an exception but a model. Similar logic is visible in my article on dollar diplomacy in Nicaragua.

Nothing has changed: allies beyond criticism

The choice of partners is still built on interests, not values. The words have changed: instead of “anticommunism” there is now “the fight against narco-terror” and “security”, but the principle remains: a convenient dictator is better than an inconvenient democrat.

Yemen, 2018. On 9 August an air strike by a coalition led by Saudi Arabia on a school bus in Dahyan killed at least 29 children. The bomb, as CNN reported, was American.

Egypt. Cairo receives about 1.3 billion dollars of US military aid every year, despite criticism over political prisoners.

Venezuela, 2019. The US and more than fifty countries recognised Juan Guaidó as “interim president”. His government was dissolved by his own supporters in 2022–2023.

Honduras, 2025. Before the elections Trump pardoned former president Juan Orlando Hernández, convicted in the US of cocaine trafficking, and backed his candidate Nasry Asfura. Today’s Somoza does not wear a Guard uniform, but the logic is the same.

The Somoza dynasty is 43 years of American support for a dictatorship created by an American occupation. It was ended by a popular uprising, not by Washington. Similar methods in neighbouring countries I examined in my articles on Honduras in 1911 and on El Salvador.