Anastasio Somoza Portocarrero

Who is Anastasio Somoza Portocarrero?

Anastasio Somoza Portocarrero is a son of former Nicaraguan president Anastasio Somoza Debayle and Hope Portocarrero de Somoza. Also known as El Chigüín—"daddy's kid"—Somoza Portocarrero had been the heir apparent to the Somoza dynasty prior to the ouster of his father by the Sandinistas in 1979. By early 1978 Somoza Portocarrero had reportedly taken on the appellation "apprentice dictator" and assumed full control of the Somozas' estimated $1 billion business empire, however by mid-1979 the family had fallen from power and would be forced into exile.

Somoza Portocarrero was educated in the United States, including at Harvard and West Point. He eventually became a colonel in the Nicaraguan military, which was run by his family. He played an active role in the armed forces during the Sandinista insurrection, and the National Guard unit which he commanded "was accused of widespread human-rights violations in the final days of the civil war."