Background
Somoza Debayle was born in León. Following the assassination of his father, Anastasio Somoza García, Luis was tapped as acting president and was elected president in his own right later that year.
Somoza Debayle was born in León. Following the assassination of his father, Anastasio Somoza García, Luis was tapped as acting president and was elected president in his own right later that year.
At the age of 14 he and his younger brother Anastasio attended Saint Leo College Preparatory near Tampa, before transferring to Louisiana Salle Military Academy on Long Island.
Luis was then educated at Louisiana State University. His rule was somewhat milder than that of his father. However, civil liberties remained restricted and corruption remained widespread. Although Luis declined to run for reelection in 1963, he and Anastasio saw to it that the presidency was held from 1963 onward by politicians loyal to the Somozas.
As a result, Luis remained the real power in Nicaragua until his death in 1967 from a massive heart attack at the age of 44 in Managua.
Under Luis Somoza"s regime, Nicaragua was a key player in the ushering of the creation of the Central American Common Market, with the Alliance for Progress backing that common market"s creation. During the Bay of Pigs Invasion, he allowed the Central Intelligence Agency-trained Cuban rebels to embark from Puerto Cabezas, on Nicaragua"s Caribbean coast.
He died in Managua and is entombed at Cementerio Occidental with his father in the National Guard Mausoleum in Managua, Nicaragua.
He was a member of Fi Sigma Alfa Fraternity.