Global InformationFulgencio Batista information
Fulgencio Batista | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 1940 | |
| President of Cuba | |
| In office March 10, 1952 – December 31, 1958 | |
| Prime Minister | See list
|
| Vice President | Rafael Guas Inclán |
| Preceded by | Carlos Prío Socarrás |
| Succeeded by | Anselmo Alliegro |
| In office October 10, 1940 – October 10, 1944 | |
| Prime Minister |
|
| Vice President | Gustavo Cuervo Rubio |
| Preceded by | Federico Laredo Brú |
| Succeeded by | Ramón Grau |
| Prime Minister of Cuba | |
| In office 10 March 1952 – 4 April 1952 | |
| President | Himself |
| Preceded by | Óscar Gans |
| Succeeded by |
|
| Cuban Senator | |
| In office June 2, 1948 – March 10, 1952 | |
| Constituency | Las Villas |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Rubén Zaldívar January 16, 1901 Banes, Cuba |
| Died | August 6, 1973 (aged 72) Marbella, Málaga, Spain |
| Resting place | Saint Isidore Cemetery |
| Political party |
|
| Spouses |
|
| Children | 9 |
| Other names | Fulgencio Batista y Zaldívar (full name from 1939) |
| Nickname(s) | El Hombre, El Indio, Mulato Lindo, Cuqui |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | Republic of Cuba |
| Branch/service | Cuban Army |
| Years of service | 1921–1940 |
| Rank | Major general |
| ||
|---|---|---|
President of Cuba 1940-1944,1952-1959
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Fulgencio Batista y Zaldívar[a][b] (born Rubén Zaldívar;[2] January 16, 1901 – August 6, 1973) was a Cuban military officer and politician who served as the elected president of Cuba from 1940 to 1944 and as a military dictator from 1952 to 1958, until he was overthrown in the Cuban Revolution.
Batista initially rose to power as part of the 1933 Revolt of the Sergeants, which overthrew the provisional government of Carlos Manuel de Céspedes y Quesada. Batista then appointed himself chief of the armed forces, with the rank of colonel, and effectively controlled the five-member "pentarchy" that functioned as the collective head of state. He maintained control through a series of puppet presidents until 1940, when he was elected president on a populist platform.[3][4] He then instated the 1940 Constitution of Cuba[5] and served until 1944. After finishing his term, Batista moved to Florida, returning to Cuba to run for president in 1952. Facing certain electoral defeat, he led a military coup against President Carlos Prío Socarrás that pre-empted the election.[6]
Back in power and receiving financial, military and logistical support from the United States government,[7][8] Batista suspended the 1940 Constitution and revoked most political liberties, including the right to strike. He then aligned with the wealthiest landowners who owned the largest sugar plantations, and presided over a stagnating economy that widened the gap between rich and poor Cubans.[9] Eventually, it reached the point where most of the sugar industry was in U.S. hands, and foreigners owned 70% of the arable land.[10] As such, Batista's repressive government then began to systematically profit from the exploitation of Cuba's commercial interests, by negotiating lucrative relationships both with the American Mafia, who controlled the drug, gambling, and prostitution businesses in Havana, and with large U.S.-based multinational companies who were awarded lucrative contracts.[9][11] To quell the growing discontent amongst the populace—which was subsequently displayed through frequent student riots and demonstrations—Batista established tighter censorship of the media, while also utilizing his Bureau for the Repression of Communist Activities secret police to carry out wide-scale violence, torture and public executions. These murders mounted in 1957, as socialist ideas became more influential. People were killed, with estimates ranging from hundreds to a maximum of 20,000, although this high figure is disputed.[12][13][14]
These tactics ultimately failed to quell unrest and instead were the catalyst for more widespread resistance. For two years (December 1956 – December 1958) Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement and other rebelling elements led an urban- and rural-based guerrilla uprising against Batista's government, which culminated in his eventual defeat by rebels under the command of Che Guevara at the Battle of Santa Clara on New Year's Day 1959. Batista immediately fled the island with an amassed personal fortune to the Dominican Republic, where strongman and previous military ally Rafael Trujillo held power. Batista eventually found political asylum in António Salazar's Portugal, where he first lived on the island of Madeira and then in Estoril. He was involved in business activities in Spain and was staying there in Guadalmina at the time of his death from a heart attack in 1973.[15]
Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).
- ^ "Batista". Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
rubenwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "Elections and Events 1935–1951 – The Library". Libraries.ucsd.edu. Archived from the original on January 12, 2014. Retrieved August 18, 2014.
- ^ Argote-Freyre, Frank (2006). Fulgencio Batista. Vol. 1. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press. p. 50. ISBN 978-0-8135-3701-6.
- ^ Wright, Robert; Wylie, Lana, eds. (2009). Our Place in the Sun: Canada and Cuba in the Castro Era. University of Toronto Press. p. 8. ISBN 978-0-8020-9666-1. Retrieved July 6, 2013.
- ^ Cavendish, Richard (March 2002). "General Batista Returns to Power in Cuba". History Today. Vol. 52, no. 3. London: History Today Ltd. Retrieved September 30, 2017.
- ^ Guerra, Lillian (2010). Grandin, Greg; Joseph, Gilbert M. (eds.). Beyond Paradox. American Encounters/Global Interactions. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. pp. 199–238. ISBN 978-0-8223-4737-8.
{{cite book}}:|work=ignored (help) - ^ Fidel: The Untold Story. (2001). Directed by Estela Bravo. First Run Features. (91 min). Viewable clip. "Batista's forces were trained by the United States, which also armed them with tanks, artillery, and aircraft."
- ^ a b Historical Dictionary of the 1950s, by James Stuart Olson, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2000, ISBN 0-313-30619-2, pp. 67–68.
- ^ Fidel: The Untold Story. (2001). Directed by Estela Bravo. First Run Features. (91 min). Viewable clip.
- ^ Havana Nocturne: How the Mob Owned Cuba and Then Lost It to the Revolution, by T.J. English, William Morrow, 2008, ISBN 0-06-114771-0.
- ^ CIA (1963). Political Murders in Cuba – Batista Era Compared with Castro Regime
- ^ Wickham-Crowley, Timothy P. (1990). Exploring Revolution: Essays on Latin American Insurgency and Revolutionary Theory. Armonk and London: M.E. Sharpe. p. 63 "Estimates of hundreds or perhaps about a thousand deaths due to Batista's terror are also supported by comments made by Fidel Castro and other Batista critics during the war itself."
- ^ Jeannine Verdès-Leroux, The Moon and the Caudillo, Paris, Gallimard / L'arpenteur, 1989 ISBN 2-07-078018-X, p. 19.
- ^ "Batista Dies in Spain at 72". The New York Times. August 7, 1973.