FULGENCIO BATISTA: BIOGRAPHY AND CHARACTERISTICS OF HIS GOVERNMENT - CULTURE VOCABULARY - 2025

Fulgencio Batista (1901-1973) was a Cuban soldier and political leader who ruled his country twice. His first term was from 1933 to 1944, quite efficiently, and then from 1952 to 1959 as a dictator and tyrant; He imprisoned his opponents, used terrorist strategies, and stole state money for his own benefit.

Thanks to his first populist candidacy, he came to power demanding a new constitution, which he enforced during his first term. In addition, he participated in the Second World War supporting the United States, intervening in the allied achievement.

By Harris & Ewing, via Wikimedia Commons

Otherwise, when he reached his second candidacy, he abolished the same constitution that he had demanded in his previous term, suspended political freedoms and the right to strike for Cuban civilians. He was finally overthrown after the insurgency of Fidel Castro.

Fulgencio Batista went down in history as the last president of the country before the Cuban Revolution.

Biography

Early years

Fulgencio Batista y Zaldívar was born on January 16, 1901 in the town of Veguita, Cuba. His parents were Belisario Batista Palermo and Carmela Zaldívar González, who fought in the Cuban War of Independence.

His parents remained in poverty, so the young Batista had to work from an early age. His mother recognized him as Rubén and gave him her last name, Zaldívar; his father never wanted to register him as Batista, bringing him future consequences for his presidential term.

Batista began his first studies at a public school in the Banes municipality and later attended night classes at an American Quaker school.

He left home at the age of fourteen, after the death of his mother. For a time, he made a living as a laborer in the cane fields, railways, and docks. In addition, he worked as a mechanic, tailor, and a traveling coal and fruit vendor.

In 1921, he joined the army as a private, in Havana. His stay in the army was short, since he dedicated himself to teaching stenography classes until he enlisted in the Rural Guard.

He became secretary to a colonel and in 1933, he held the rank of sergeant leading the "sergeant conspiracy" to seek promotion.

1933 coup

The revolt of the sergeants functioned as part of the coup that finally overthrew the government of Gerardo Machado. Machado was succeeded by Carlos Manuel de Céspedes y Quesada, who lacked a political association and was soon replaced.

A brief five-member presidency was established, which was to include a representative from each anti-machado faction called the "Pentarchy of 1933." Although Batista was not a member of that group, he was in charge of the Cuban Armed Forces.

After a few days, the student representative, Ramón Grau San Martín, assumed the presidency of Cuba and Batista became the Chief of Staff of the Army with the rank of colonel. Most of the officer corps was forced to withdraw and, indeed, it was speculated that many of them were killed.

Grau remained in the position of president for more than one hundred days until Batista, allied with the American Summer Welles, forced him to hand over the presidency in January 1934. Grau was replaced by the politician Carlos Mendieta for eleven months, being recognized by the United States. United.

First presidential term

In 1938, Batista ordered a new constitution and ran for president of Cuba. Finally, in 1940, he was elected president, defeating Grau in the presidential elections, thanks to the fact that his party had a majority in Congress.

Although Batista supported capitalism and was a loyal follower of American policy, he was backed by the former Communist Party of Cuba. The support was due to Batista's involvement in favor of the unions, with which the Communists had strong ties.

In fact, the communists attacked the anti-Batista factions, branding Grau and his followers as "fascists" and "reactionaries." During his presidential term, important social reforms were carried out and economic and political regulations were established.

At that time, Cuba participated in World War II on the side of the Allies on December 9, 1941, declaring war on the Japanese two days after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Then, on December 11, the Batista government declared war on Germany and Italy.

Batista after the presidency

In 1944, Batista's chosen successor, Carlos Saladrigas Zayas, was defeated by Grau. Batista spent the last months of his tenure damaging the incoming Grau administration.

After Grau's inauguration as president, Batista emigrated to the United States. There, he divorced his wife, Elisa Godínez, to marry Marta Fernández Batista in 1945; two of his four children were born in the United States.

For eight years, Batista spent time between New York City and a home in Daytona Beach, Florida. In 1948, he was elected to the Cuban Senate; Upon returning to Cuba, he decided to participate in the candidacy for the presidency thanks to Grau's permission.

When he took power, he founded the Progressive Action Party to bring American capital to Cuba. He never managed to fully regain popular support, although the unions did remain loyal to him to the end.

Second presidential term

Finally, in 1952, Batista ran again for the presidency of Cuba. The former Cuban president was in third place behind Roberto Agramonde, who was in second place, and Carlos Hevia, in first.

On March 10, 1952, three months before the presidential elections, Batista ordered a coup with the support of the Cuban Army, in order to take power by force. He overthrew President Carlos Prío Socarrás, canceled the elections and took power as transitional president of Cuba.

On March 27 of that same year, the United States government recognized his government. For his part, Batista made a salary increase to the Armed Forces and the police, eradicated the right to strike, suspended constitutional guarantees and reinstated the death penalty.

Beginnings of the Cuban Revolution

On July 26, 1953, a group of revolutionaries attacked the Moncada barracks in Santiago, Cuba. Batista's forces quickly attacked the group; some were imprisoned and another fled the country. With the Batista coup the political career that the leader of the attack, Fidel Castro, had planned, was diverted.

After the assault on the Moncada barracks, Batista made the decision to suspend constitutional guarantees and carried out police tactics to scare the population through brutal violence.

In 1954, Batista held an election in which he ran as a candidate for president. The opposition was divided into abstentionists and electoralists. The former decided to boycott Baptista's elections and the electoralists sought certain rights to participate.

Batista used fraud and intimidation, getting the candidate Grau, leader of the electoralist faction, to withdraw from the candidacy. Thus, Batista was elected president.

In late 1955, student riots and demonstrations against the Batista regime grew stronger and stronger. For Batista, all young people were seen as revolutionaries who should be oppressed.

One step away from the triumph of the Cuban Revolution

Batista's secret police brought together a group of young people with the intention of gathering information about Fidel Castro's army. The result was the torture of a group of innocents and the murder of the suspects at the hands of the Batista police.

Batista wanted to give a warning to young people who considered joining Castro's insurgency, leaving hundreds of mangled corpses in the streets. However, the brutal behavior failed and support for the revolutionaries increased.

In 1958, national organizations, as well as several of the country's unions, supported Castro's insurgency. Originally, it had had the support of the poor, but it also won the support of the middle class.

On the other hand, the United States provided Batista with planes, tanks, and the latest technology to use against the insurgency, but in 1958, the Americans stopped selling weapons to the Cuban government. Subsequent days, the United States imposed an arms embargo on him, weakening the Batista government.

The 1958 elections were delayed for a few more months when Castro and the revolutionaries called for a general strike, planting several bombs in civilian areas.

Several candidates participated, including Grau San Martín, who again withdrew his candidacy on the day of the elections. Batista gave Rivero Agüero the winner.

End of term and last years

The fall of the Batista government spread through Havana, and The New York Times reviewed the number of people who took to the streets euphoric, honking car horns. On January 8, 1959, Castro and his army entered Havana victorious.

Batista was rejected by the United States and Mexico for exile; However, the dictator of Portugal, Antonio Salazar, allowed him to settle on the condition that he not participate in politics.

Death

Batista lived in Madeira and later in Estoril on the outskirts of Lisbon. On August 6, 1973, he died of a heart attack in Spain, two days before a team of Cuban assassins from Castro sought him out to assassinate him.

Characteristics of his government

Repression against the people

US President John Kennedy saw the government of Fulgencio Batista as one of the bloodiest and most repressive dictatorships in Latin America. Batista, after his second presidential term, came to power after applying forceful strategies, supported by various political parties.

Quickly, he established a tyrannical regime, making radical decisions and attacking the Cuban people: he repressed the riots, imprisoned his opponents (including Fidel Castro and his followers) and murdered many innocents whom he believed to be suspects.

In addition, he applied a psychology of terror against all those who joined the insurgency, leaving all the corpses of revolutionary sympathizers scattered on the streets of the capital.

It is said that during the government of Fulgencio Batista, approximately 20,000 Cubans were murdered in seven years.

Economy during his government

When Batista came to power in his second term, he inherited a relatively prosperous country compared to other countries in Latin America. Although a third of the population lived in poverty, Cuba was one of the five most developed countries in the region.

In 1950, Cuba's per capita gross domestic product was nearly equal to that of Italy, although it was still only one sixth of that of the United States. Although corruption and inequality on the part of Batista grew rampant, wages for industrial workers were on the rise.

The agricultural wage in Cuba was higher than some nations on the European continent; however, the average Cuban family only had an income of $ 6 per week and between 15% and 20% of the population was unemployed.

Relationship with organized crime

In the 1950s, Havana was "a hedonistic playground for the world elite," as described by various historians. This produced considerable profits in gambling, prostitution, and drugs for the American mob.

These revenues were not only tied to Americans, but also to corrupt government officials and Batista's chosen friends. It is estimated that before 1950, the city of Havana had approximately 270 brothels.

Furthermore, the consumption and distribution of marijuana and cocaine were abundant, as in no other country in Latin America.

In an attempt to profit from those businesses, Batista established long-lasting and stable relationships with organized crime, in particular with the American mobsters Meyer Lansky and Lucky Luciano.

Under his mandate, Havana was considered "Las Vegas of Latin America." Batista granted concessions for the construction of new hotels and casinos, on the condition that part of the profit went to the Cuban president.

Batista and the United States government

The United States government used its influence to advance the interests of private American companies to increase their profits, thanks to what it called "the island economy."

During the Batista government and almost at the end of the 1950s, the United States owned 90% of Cuban mines, 80% of public services, 50% of its railroads, 40% of sugar production and 25% of your bank deposits.

As a symbol of the good relationship with Batista, a US telephone company presented him with a “golden telephone” as an expression of gratitude for the excessive increase in telephone rates. The United States was able to take advantage of their stays on the island like Batista.

References

1. Fulgencio Batista, Wikipedia in English, (nd). Taken from Wikipedia.org
2. Fungencio Batista, The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica, (nd). Taken from britannica.com
3. Batista, Jerry A Sierra, (nd). Taken from historyofcuba.com
4. Biografy of Fulgencio Batista: Rise of a dictator, Christopher Mister, (2017). Taken from thoughtco.com
5. Cuban Revolution: The rules of Fulgencio Batista, The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica, (nd). Taken from britannica.com