Anastasio "Tachito" Somoza Debayle was a Nicaraguan dictator and officially the President of Nicaragua from 1 May 1967 to 1 May 1972 and from 1 December 1974 to 17 July 1979. As head of the National Guard, he was de facto ruler of the country between 1972 and 1974 even during the period when he was not the de jure ruler.
Somoza Debayle succeeded his older brother in office. He was the last member of the Somoza family to be president, ending a dynasty that had been in power since 1936. After insurgents led by the Sandinista National Liberation Front were closing in on Managua in July 1979, Somoza fled Nicaragua. Power was ceded to the Junta of National Reconstruction. He was assassinated in 1980 while in exile in Paraguay.