Profile: Anastasio Somoza Debayle

The corrupt, repressive, US-backed dictatorship of Anastasio Somoza Debayle is overthrown and is succeeded by the Sandinistas. The Sandinistas will implement reforms that significantly improve social conditions. For instance, the literacy rate will improve from 25 percent to 80 percent, student enrollment will more than double by 1984, the number of school teachers will more than quadruple, and the percentage of people with access to health services will dramatically increase. [Anderson, 1988; Media Monitors, 9/24/2001; Walker, 2003] An Oxfam report entitled, Nicaragua: The Threat of a Good Example, will conclude in 1985: “In Oxfam’s experience of working in seventy-six developing countries, Nicaragua was to prove exceptional in the strength of that government commitment [of meeting the basic needs of the poor majority].” [Melrose, 1985]