Fulgencio Batista

Youth and first rule

Batista was born in Banes, Cuba in 1901 and considered socially mulatto (mixed African and Spanish blood, with additional admixture some say were Filipino and certainly Taíno). Said to be the son of Mambi (Cuban Wars of Independence fighter) Belisario Batista http://cubagen.org/mil/mambi/index.htm he joined the army in 1921. Sergeant Batista led the 1933 "Sergeants' Revolt" which replaced the Provisional Government of Carlos Manuel de Céspedes, who had previously ousted Gerardo Machado. Ramón Grau was made president and Batista became the Army Chief of Staff and effectively controlled the presidency. (Fidel and Raúl Castro were born in Birán, which is relatively near Banes. The Batista and Castro families had social contact. Batista is known to have given Fidel Castro a large wedding present, and Raúl is commonly believed to be the son of a senior Batista officer.) During this period Batista violently suppressed a number of attempts to defeat his control. These attempts include the squashing of a rising in ancient Atares fort (Havana) by Blas Hernández, a rural guerrilla who had fought Gerardo Machado. Many of those who surrendered were executed. Others attempts include, the attack on the Hotel Nacional where Cuban former army officers of the Cuban Olympic rifle team put up stiff resistance until they were defeated. Here again Batista troops executed a good number of the surrendered. The irony is that many of these officers had helped overthrow Machado. There were many other, often minor and almost unrecorded attempted revolts against Batista. These too were bloodily suppressed. These minor revolts included one in Guamá, a place in the Sierra Maestra south of Guisa, where the followers of an anti-Batista Guerrilla leader known as “Gamboa” (apparently a member, or former member, of the Antonio Guiteras anti-Machado guerrillas) were defeated and dispersed. Grau was president for just over 100 days before being replaced with Carlos Mendieta y Montefur (11 months), then José Barnet y Vinajeras (5 months), and then Miguel Gómez y Arias (7 months) before Federico Laredo Brú managed to rule from December 1936 to October 1940. In October, Batista was popularly elected as President of Cuba. During his tenure, he drafted the 1940 constitution (later approved by President Grau), widely regarded as a progressivism|progressive document with regards to labor, unemployment, and social security, and implemented several liberalism|liberal economic reforms. In 1944, Batista was forbidden by law to seek re-election by term limits and was succeeded by Grau. Batista retired in Florida, before returning in 1952.

Second rule

Batista staged an almost bloodless coup d'état on March 10, 1952, removing Carlos Prío Socarrás (elected in 1948) and becoming President three months before new elections were to be held. The new government received diplomatic recognition from the United States, a number of American corporations continued to swell in Cuba, and the island became a major tourist destination, attracting unprecedented prosperity for the island. In addition, the public was somewhat accepting of the coup at first, hoping Batista would restore stability to the island after the political violence, labor unrest, and government corruption that had occurred during Prío's tenure. Batista's ethnicity and origins, plus his ties to Afro-Cuban religions led to support from darker pigmented Cubans who would with some frequency kill and die for their perceived leader. Despite economic prosperity in the 1950s, Batista's corruption, particularly his unsettlingly close relationship with the Havana Mafia, saw a rise in general opposition to his regime, from the rich and middle class Cubans, advocates of liberal democracy who viewed his presidency as unconstitutional and unacceptable. Cross class urban resistance grew despite high causualties and the country folk (guajiros) increasingly turned to irregular armed resistance. The overt communist party, Partido Socialista Popular, supported Batista until about the middle of 1958.

Opposition

Among the numerous opponents to Batista was Fidel Castro. Castro had attempted to challenge the coup judicially but his petition was refused. Castro was imprisoned after he led a disastrous attack on the Moncada Barracks in July, 1953. In an attempt to discourage further rebellion, Batista also displayed the corpses of guerrillas killed by the Army on Cuban television. However, rather than frightening the Cuban populace, such actions only further contributed to Batista's growing unpopularity. With pressure from the Society of Jesus|Jesuits, Batista decided to free Castro early and he was released in a general amnesty in May 1955 and went into exile in Mexico and the United States where he plotted another attempt at revolution. Castro's return to Cuba as head of the 26th of July Movement was marked by another disastrous attack in December, 1956. Despite a bloody supporting urban actions by Frank Pais in Santiago in the days preceding the landing, rural support coordinated by Pais, that including Celia Sanchez, the bandit Cresencio Perez, and the trucks from Huber Matos farm, as well as the sacrifice of two rearguard squads, only Castro and some 11-17 others were able to successfully retreat into the mountains and from there wage a guerrilla war. In May 1958, in response to a failed assault on the presidencial palace by other resistance groups, Batista launched a major assault against Castro and the other rebel groups (unaffiliated with Castro). Despite being outnumbered (Castro claims his men numbered fewer than 100; however, there were far greater numbers of pickets or scouts (escopeteros) who saw action in those days), Castro's forces scored a series of victories, aided by massive desertion amongst Batista's army. During this time period, the U.S. broke off relations with Batista, stating that it sought a peaceful transition to a new government. Against this backdrop of growing civil war, Batista, constitutionally prohibited from continuing as president, held an election in which his preferred candidate Carlos Rivero Aguero defeated Grau. On January 1, 1959 Batista and Rivero fled the country to the Dominican Republic, and Castro's forces took Havana. Later Batista moved to Portugal. Batista lived rest of his life in Marbella, Spain where he died.

See also

Cuban Revolution