Editing Anastasio Somoza Debayle (section)

==Death==
Little more than a year later, Somoza was shot dead in Asunción on September 17, 1980. He was 54 years old. He was ambushed by a seven-strong Sandinista [[commando|commando team]] (four men and three women). The action was known as "Operation Reptile".

The Sandinista team were armed with two Soviet-made machine guns, two [[AK-47]] assault rifles, two automatic pistols, and an [[RPG-7]] rocket launcher, with four anti-tank grenades and two rockets. The leader was [[Argentina|Argentinian]] Marxist revolutionary [[Enrique Gorriarán Merlo]] (code named "Ramon"), an ex-[[People's Revolutionary Army (Argentina)|Ejército Revolucionario del Pueblo]] member.<ref>Gorriarán Merlo, Enrique. ''Memorias'' ("Memories") {{ISBN|950-49-1063-7}}{{page needed|date=September 2023}}</ref> One of the team members said: "We cannot tolerate the existence of millionaire playboys while thousands of Latin Americans are dying of hunger. We are perfectly willing to give up our lives for this cause."
[[File:Anastasio Somoza grave 2007.jpg|thumb|right|Somoza family mausoleum]]

The Sandinista team had researched and planned their assault over a time period of more than six months. The team studied Somoza's movements via a team member who was staked out at a newspaper kiosk near the estate. The commando team also utilized disinformation tactics to gain access into important residencies under the guise of a famous  name, that being [[Julio Iglesias]].<ref>{{Cite web|date=2020-09-16|title=Cuarenta años del ataque que mató a Somoza y golpeó a dictadura de Stroessner|url=https://www.lavanguardia.com/cultura/20200916/483516221899/cuarenta-anos-del-ataque-que-mato-a-somoza-y-golpeo-a-dictadura-de-stroessner.html|access-date=2020-12-16|website=La Vanguardia|language=es}}</ref> They waited in ambush for Somoza in Avenida España. Somoza was often driven about the city in a [[Mercedes-Benz W116|Mercedes-Benz S-Class]] sedan, which was believed to be unarmored. Team member Oswaldo, disguised as a paper boy, watched Somoza exit the estate and signaled when he was leaving at 10:10 am.

Once in position, Hugo Irurzún (''Capitán Santiago'') readied the RPG-7. He tried to fire an anti-tank rocket at the car, but the RPG-7 misfired. Ramon shot the chauffeur while Irurzún quickly reloaded the RPG with a new rocket. The second rocket directly hit the sedan. Accounts said that the car's engine kept running after the rocket explosion. Previously, the commando team had considered the possibility that Somoza's vehicle might be equipped with armor panels in front. Worried that it could deflect the rocket projectile, they chose to make a lateral attack on the vehicle. Somoza was killed instantly and burned, along with his new driver, César Gallardo, and Somoza's financial advisor, Colombian citizen Jou Baittiner.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://ufdc.ufl.edu/UF00028296/00830/4j|title=UF Digital Collections}}</ref> Later media reports in Paraguay said that Somoza's body was so unrecognizable that forensics had to identify him through his feet.<ref>[http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/somoza/somoza-car.jpg Somoza Car], Latin American Studies</ref>

Of the seven assassins, six escaped. Iruzun was killed in a shootout with [[National Police of Paraguay|Paraguayan police]] the day after the assassination.<ref>"Paraguay Says a Suspect In Somoza Case Is Slain", by Edward Schumacher, ''The New York Times'', September 19, 1980, p. A4</ref>

Somoza was buried in Miami, at [[Caballero Rivero Woodlawn North Park Cemetery and Mausoleum|Woodlawn Park Cemetery and Mausoleum]], although his father [[Anastasio Somoza García]] and brother [[Luis Somoza Debayle]], both prior presidents of Nicaragua, were buried in Nicaragua. A few months before Somoza's murder, his memoirs, ''[[Nicaragua Betrayed]]'', were published. He blamed the [[Presidency of Jimmy Carter|Carter administration]] for his downfall. His son, [[Anastasio Somoza Portocarrero]], went into exile in [[Guatemala]].

Brian Latell, a former US National Intelligence Officer for Latin America and Cuba, argues in his book, ''After Fidel'', that the plan to assassinate Somoza was devised in Havana, with direct input from [[Fidel Castro]]. According to him, the Sandinistas had won power in July 1979 with the assistance of massive, covert Cuban military aid. Fidel and his brother [[Raúl Castro]] purportedly developed a complex, multinational covert action to provide the Sandinistas with huge quantities of modern armaments. Latell claims Cuban intelligence and paramilitary advisors poured into Nicaragua along with the equipment. He says the evidence indicated that Somoza's assassination was similar to other such operations in which Cuban intelligence had been involved. He says that Somoza was a long-time nemesis of Castro after having provided critical support to the U.S. in preparing for the [[Bay of Pigs Invasion]] of Cuba in April 1961.<ref>Brian Latell,'' Castro's Secrets: The CIA and Cuba's Intelligence Machine'' (New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2012), pp. 124–125.</ref> Jorge Masetti, a former Argentine guerrilla working with Cuban intelligence services, describes the Somoza assassination and also asserts that Cuba had a direct role in planning it in his memoir, ''In the Pirate's Den'' (2002).<ref>Jorge Masetti, ''In the Pirate´s Den: My Life as a Secret Agent for Castro'' (Encounter Books: San Francisco, 2002).</ref>

Somoza's funeral attracted numerous wealthy Nicaraguan and [[Cuban exile]]s in South Florida, who protested the left-wing governments of Nicaragua, led by the [[Sandinista National Liberation Front]], and Cuba, led by the [[Communist Party of Cuba]]. But some commentators noted that the exiles in Miami were also relieved at Somoza's death. The newly founded [[Contras|Contra]] army, which consisted of many ex-members of Somoza's National Guard, would have had to give the impression of having no relation to the old Somoza regime, for purposes of public relations and world opinion.

In 1979, the Brazilian newspaper ''Gazeta Mercantil'' estimated that the Somoza family's fortune amounted to between $2 billion and $4 billion with its head, Anastasio Somoza Debayle, owning $1 billion.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=JMMKAAAAIAAJ&q=somoza+million+gazeta ''World Marxist Review'', Vol. 22]</ref> At the time he fled the country, he reportedly personally controlled 22 percent of the agricultural land of Nicaragua.<ref>[https://www.csmonitor.com/1980/0919/091947.html The Somoza legacy: he failed the people he professed to love], ''The Christian Science Monitor'', September 19, 1980</ref>