Somoza family family

“As his enemy amassed in the hills and suburbs of his doomed capital, the dictator huddled in his mountainside bunker with his aides and his American advisors and cursed his rotten luck. For 46 years, Andasio Samosa's family had ruled the Re…”

“Basically, what you would refer to as the royal family of Nicaragua, which back in the day was the Somoza, S-O-M-O-Z-A family. And it's important to understand their role in all of this. They were basically the royal family of Nicaragua fro…”

“used within Nicaragua as the National Guard. And this happened around 1978, 1979. So when the Sandinistas succeeded in overthrowing the dictatorship, the Sandinistas basically ruled for like from 79 to 90, which is kind of considered to be …”

“And according to two political scientists, Thomas Walker and Christine Wade, quote, the guard was a sort of mafia in uniform, the personal bodyguards of the Somoza family, unquote. So he allowed the U.S. to establish a military base in Nica…”

“Crazy. Yeah. The purchase of the ranch by the Samosas occurred about the time the Sandinistas were stepping up the pressure on Samosa. Seeing the writing on the wall, the wealthy Nicaraguans began moving their money to the U.S. with the hel…”

“contracts from the Nicaraguan government and with the U.S. So again, very important connections. Daniello and Chapita Blanton were plugged into every aspect of the power structure in the Somoza dictatorship. They were benevolent only to loy…”

“and assault the National Palace and took the entire Nicaraguan Congress hostage. So this, I love this story because this is turning Operation Gladio on its head. Because Operation Gladio CIA-backed troops always dress themselves as someone …”

“They just kind of heaped insult onto the injuries already incurred. So the Sandinistas see their chance to now launch an attack. So in December 1974, with all the chaos that has been generated and the disgruntledness of the population, they…”

“were in the local area in Nicaragua are very resentful because immediately instead of giving the money that was coming in as aid, the government decides to put an emergency tax on the businessmen to basically generate other outside money so…”

“Setting a notepad out of his briefcase, I excused myself and went to a payphone. Miraculously, Dawn was at her desk, and I asked her if there was any problem with that. She said, no, I think that's a great idea. I wish you could do all your…”

“that the workers that were working at that copper mine should be paid more money. The guys in Nicaragua didn't think $87 a year was enough money to live on in the 1970s in Nicaragua. Well, here's a newsflash for you. It wasn't. And United F…”

“use the military for humanitarian aid. And also Jimmy Carter basically is bribing him. He wants to send a whole bunch of humanitarian aid down there to basically buy him to stop killing his citizens, you know, because that makes all the sen…”