Bad Leaders From Different Countries Quiz

Answer: Libya

Colonel Gaddafi ruled Libya for 42 years. He seized control of the country after a coup, imposing his abusive laws and terrorizing his people, who could not disagree with his decisions for fear of being killed or imprisoned. He would even send assassins to murder Libyans who had escaped the country and was responsible for blowing up a plane in 1988, with no survivors.

When Libyans finally rebelled, Gaddafi tried to escape, but was found hiding in a culvert and executed.

Answer: Mexico

Porfirio Díaz ruled Mexico from 1877 to 1880 and again from 1884 to 1911. He was known to have said, "Poor Mexico, so far from God and so close to the United States". He also said "pan o palo" (bread or the bludgeon), which summed up his policy; either people should accept the situation, or be killed. Díaz was re-elected 6 times and he maintained these rigged elections were unanimous in his favor.

Although the country progressed in many ways, it was through social injustice, the people in the countryside and the farmers having suffered the most.

The people of Mexico deposed him in 1911, when the Mexican Revolution took over and he had to escape to Spain. He died in Paris, France, in 1915.

Answer: Panama

Manuel Noriega was never president of Panama, but he was, in reality, the man who controlled everything between 1983 to 1989. He was eventually removed from power after the United States invaded the country and extradited him to the United States, as he was involved in drug trafficking.

He was judged and condemned to serve almost 20 years in an American prison. After he did his time in the United States, he was also extradited to France and later to Panama. He died in 2017.

Answer: Nicaragua

Anastasio Somoza Garcia was twice president of Nicaragua, in 1937-47 and from 1950 until his assassination in 1956. He used his power to eliminate all his political and personal enemies and became very rich at the expense of the country. After his assassination, his oldest son, Luis Somoza, took control of Nicaragua until his death in 1963. After him, the last member of the family, Anastasio Somoza Debayle became the last dictator until 1979, when he was deposed by the Sandinista revolutionaries. He was assassinated a year later in Paraguay.

In total, the Somozas controlled Nicaragua for 44 years. Their fortune was said to amount to several billion dollars.

Answer: Venezuela

Hugo Chavez was president of Venezuela from 1998 to 2013, when he died of cancer. He was a personal friend of Fidel Castro and other Communist leaders in Latin America. His government used repression, eliminating all people who were against him. Many Venezuelans had to go into exile to save their lives.

Answer: Cuba

Fulgencio Batista became president of Cuba, for the second time, after a coup d'etat in 1952. He resigned and left the country the last day of December 1958, when the situation in Cuba became intolerable. Almost daily, people were found tortured and assassinated by Batista's police. On the opposite side, the revolutionaries against the system discouraged people from leaving their homes, placing bombs in cinemas, restaurants and in busy streets.

Unfortunately, the people of Cuba, although having great hope in Castro's Revolution, did not find their living conditions much improved.

Answer: Romania

Ceausescu was general secretary of the Communist Party from 1985 to 1989. Romanians were tired of the abuse suffered during Ceausescu's government and rebelled against the tyrant. The people were actually starving and living under communist repression, their agricultural products were exported, many people could not heat their homes during winter and the system's enemies were executed or disappeared and were never found.

The Ceausescus tried to escape and were captured in December 1989. After a very short trial, they were both executed on Christmas Day, 1989.

Answer: Russia

Lenin was the head of government of Communist Russia from 1917 to 1922 and of the Soviet Union from 1922 until his death in 1924. Although Lenin died early in the life of Russia as a communist country, his ideals inspired the Russian revolution and he ordered the death of Nicholas II and his family, as well as the death of many Russian aristocrats who were not able to flee the country.

Answer: Chile

Pinochet gave a coup d'etat to Salvador Allende, who was elected president by the people of Chile through democratic elections. Allende named General Pinochet as Commander in Chief, this one overthrew Allende, who, according to Pinochet's men, killed himself. Pinochet controlled the country in a military dictatorship from 1973 to 1990, killing all Allende's supporters and other people of socialist tendencies, approximately three thousand people.

He remained Commander in Chief another eight years.

While living in Europe, he was extradited to Chile. He died in 2006 of congestive heart failure.

Answer: North Korea

Kim Jong-ung, First Secretary of the WPK, Chairman of the Estate Affairs Commission and many other titles, inherited his position in 2011 after the death of his father. He ruled over a country where religion was discouraged, whose citizens suffered extreme malnutrition, were put in prison camps for political reasons, where they suffered both physical and mental torture and were killed if they did not "improve" after indoctrination.

In spite of the world's condemnation, it spent huge sums of money on a military nuclear weapons programme.