Anastasio Somoza Portocarrero

From Daily Escape

Revision as of 21:41, 11 October 2007

Anastasio Somoza Portocarrero
55th President of the Federal Republic of Central America
In office December 1, 2002 — present
Political party	Nationalist Liberal Party
Preceded by	Enrique Bolaños
Succeeded by	Incumbent
Born	1951 Nicaragua, Federal Republic of Central America
Spouse	None/Divorced (formerly married to Marisa Celasco Oberholzer)
Profession	Politician, military officer
Religion	Roman Catholic
Languages	Spanish, English

Anastasio Somoza Portocarrero (b. 1951), popularly known as "Tacho" and "El Chiguin," is the current President of the Federal Republic of Central America. A member of the prominent Somoza family, which dominated Central American politics from 1937 through 1981, and continues to wield considerable influence, Somoza is the grandson of President Anastasio Somoza García (ruled 1937–1947, 1950–1956), nephew of President Luis Somoza Debayle (ruled 1956–1963), and son of President Anastasio Somoza Debayle (ruled 1967–1972, 1974–1981).

Harvard-educated, handsome, articulate, and fluent in English, Somoza first delved into the political arena in the mid-1980s, when he campaigned for mayor of Guatemala City, and won. He served as mayor from 1985-1993, after which he campaigned for a seat in the National Assembly in 1996; he lost that bid, but succeeded on his second try, managing to win a seat in 2001. That same year, he was elected national chairman of the Nationalist Liberal Party, and sought (and received) the party's nomination for presidential candidate in 2002. He handily won that election with 52% of the popular vote, beating his opponent, Conservative Party candidate Alberto Saborío, who received 41%.

Somoza's presidency so far has been a successful one. His administration has been characterized by healthy economic growth and continued close ties to the United States. While continuing - and expanding upon - the laissez faire policies of his predecessors, he has nevertheless pledged to do more to support poorer Central Americans, especially in rural areas. He has increased spending on education by more than 30%, built dozens of free, mission-run clinics in rural areas, subsidized the construction of more than 1,500 low-cost houses each month for needy families, and offered agricultural credits, seeds and fertilizer below prevailing market prices, technical instruction, help in marketing crops, and other services to poor farmers. He has also eliminated tariffs, adopted the U.S. dollar as the national currency, and provided generous incentives to multinational corporations, leading to record levels of foreign investment in Central America.

Prior to his career in politics, Somoza headed the School of Basic Training of Infantry and commanded an elite unit of the National Guard during the civil war in the 1970s.