Batista

General Fulgencio Batista y Zaldívar
Batista
19th President of Cuba
In office 1940-48 – 1952-58
Preceded by	Federico Laredo Brú (first term) & Carlos Prío Socarrás (second term)
Born	January 16, 1901 Banes, Oriente Province, Cuba
Died	August 6, 1973 Spain
Political party	P.A.U.- Partido de Accion Unitaria

General Rubén Fulgencio Batista y Zaldívar (pronounced [fulˈɣensio baˈtista̩]) (January 16, 1901 – August 6, 1973) was the de facto military leader of Cuba from 1933 to 1940, and the de jure President of Cuba from 1940 to 1944 after having won the election. He then became the country's leader from 1952 to 1959, after staging a copu d'etat when it became clear that he was going to lose the election. His authoritarian government during this subsequent period generated opposition despite his attempt to placate critics with a 'show' election in 1954 where he ran without opposition. The opposition included the entire coalition that had overthrown the Machado inclusive of Fidel Castro's guerrilla movement, by which Batista was overthrown in what is known as the Cuban Revolution.

Early Years

Batista was born on January 16, 1901 in the Veguitas section in Banes, a small rural community in the northeast Oriente Province, Cuba. Batista, the first of four sons, was born to Belisario Batista Palermo and Carmela Zaldívar González, both of whom were said to be of mixed race. His father fought in the Cuban war of independence from Spain under General José Maceo. Batista’s mother was only fifteen years old when he was born. They had a very close relationship and, as a child, he turned to her for comfort. His relationship with his father, on the other hand, was one of respect rather than love and affection.

Of very humble origins, Batista and his family lived in a two room bohío, which consisted of dirt floors, bark and palm trees. The whole family slept in the only bedroom (the other room was the living room). There was no bathroom or running water; so Batista and his family (were forced to drink from rivers and ponds, which often made them ill.

Many questioned whether his origins and he was often referred to as a mulatto. Though Batista frequently acknowledged growing up in poverty, he rarely mentioned his racial and ethnic origins. He simply described his farents as "Cuban," as it was in his best interest to avoid discussions about his origins that might have caused prejudice in the minds of Cubans and Americans.

Batista began working from an early age. His father worked twelve hour days cutting sugar cane, but in the off season, work and money was scarce. During these times, Batista's father would harveste bananas and his mother would sell them in makeshift fruit stand by their home. However, as money was tight, Batista was forced to leave school and begin working with his father at the age of eight to help supplement the family income.

In 1911, Batista was allowed to return to school, but only at night. He attended Colegio "Los Amigos" of Banes, which was run by Quakers at night. Since there was work and chores that needed to be done, Batista's parents considered school an indulgence and he was not allowed to do his school work at home. Nonetheless, he graduated at age twelve in the Spring of 1913 with a fourth grade education

When Batista's mother passed away in 1916 his family became fragmented. Batista worked various odd jobs and traveled the countryside. From 1916 until he enlisted in the army, he worked different office jobs, harvested oranges and sugar cane, and ran errands and did chores for soldiers, among many other things. Finally, Batista was hired by the railroad and, thus, gained the financial security and independence he was searching for. Additionally, while working for the railroad, Batista indulged himself in various books in order to educate himself.

In 1921, Batista joined the First Battalion, Fourth Infantry Company at Camp Columbia as a private in the Cuban army. Here, he studied sternography and took a number of courses to enhance his sternographic skills. He attended a small technical school called Colegio San Mario, as well as other schools in the area. At his height, Batista could transcribe up to 160 words per minute. He was a poster boy for sternography, and trade journals and magazines boasted his success as he became an adept typist. When his recruitment expired in April 1923, Batista did not automatically reenlist in the army. He took public speaking and phonetics classes until he reenlisted in the Rural Guard at the end of May 1923.

First Rule

On September 4, 1933 Batista led enlisted men, in alliance with students and labor leaders, in an uprising known as the Sergeants’ Revolt, which ousted the provisional government of Carlos Manuel de Céspedes. This rebellion was built on the grievances of enlisted men about the treatment they received in the army; additionally, the enlisted men blamed the officers for taking full credit for the overthrow of Gerardo Machado. The civilian revolutionaries and student movement allied with Batista; and, the enlisted men began to take control of the navy, police stations and armed forces. The students developed a program that established a new form of government, which included the creation of an executive commission of five individuals who were to rule the country together. However, the pentarchy did not last long, and Ramón Graú San Martín was selected president by the executive commission. Batista appointed himself Army Chief of Staff and the promoted himself to Colonel. This marked the beginning of the army’s role as an organized force that influenced and ran the government.

Grau was president for just over 100 days before being replaced by 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. During this time, Batista ran the country from the background

All the while, Batista violently suppressed a number of attempts to defeat his control. This included the quashing of an uprising in the ancient Atarés fort (Havana) by Blas Hernández, a rural guerrilla who had fought Gerardo Machado. Many of those who surrendered were executed. Another attempt was the attack on the Hotel Nacional where Cuban former army officers of the Cuban Olympic rifle team (including one Enrique Ros) 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.

In February 1936, Batista set about to establish a rural education program throughout Cuba. This was followed by a surge of social welfare legislation by Batista, partially in an attempt to improve the public image of the army in Cuba. During these years Batista brought education to peasants, built schools (although modestly), and implemented a minimum wage for farm workers, a measure deeply resented by the landowners. However, despite Batista's initial agenda for social reform, positive changes in the country were minimal and his plans failed.

On December 6, 1939, Batista resigned from the Cuban Army so he could participate in the upcoming election; and, in October 1940, Batista, who formed a coalition with the leftist Cuban Communist Party was elected President of Cuba. During his tenure, he drafted the 1940 constitution (later approved by President Grau), widely regarded as a progressive document with regards to labor, unemployment, and social security, and implemented several liberal economic reforms. In 1944, Batista was forbidden by law to seek re-election because of term limits and was succeeded by Grau. Batista retired to Daytona Beach, Florida but returned to Cuba in 1948 upon election to the senate.

Second rule

When Batista was elected to the Cuban Senate from the Santa Clara Province in 1948, he returned to Cuba and organized his own political party. He later announced his presidential candidacy for the June 1952 elections. As the election date approached, Batista was running last in the election, and it became apparent that he might lose. Thus, he staged an almost bloodless coup d'état on March 10, 1952, removing Carlos Prío Socarrás from presidency. Remembering the bloodshed of the 1930's, Cubans were reluctant to fight. On March 27, 1952 Batista's government was formally recognized by the United States; and, shortly thereafter, Batista suspended the constitutional guarentees of Cuba's constitution of 1940, as well as the right to strike. Batista then went on to cancel the elections, and dissolved all political parties. The new government received diplomatic recognition from the United States, the number of American corporations continued to swell in Cuba, and the island became a major tourist destination, creating unprecedented material prosperity for its inhabitants.

José Martí Monument, erected during Batista's Presidency in Civic Square (Now "Revolutionary Square"), designed by Enrique Luis Varela, sculpture by Juan José Sicre (1958)

Batista’s past democratic and pro-labor tendencies, as well as the fear of another episode of bloody violence gained him tenuous support from the now very old survivors of the Independence Wars, the bankers, the association of cane growers, the colonos (often prosperous share croppers and owners), and the leader of the major labor confederation, the CTC, Eusebio Mujal. Only a few labor leaders, such as Pascasio Linarer, Jesús Artigas and Calixto Sánchez rebelled. The Ortodoxo and Auténtico, the major political parties, were undecisive; and, the Communist Party, Partido Socialista Popular, supported Batista until 1957.

Batista opened Havana to large-scale gambling, and announced that the Cuban government would match, dollar for dollar, any hotel investment over $1 million, which would include a casino license. Moreover, Batsist reorganized the government so that he and his political appointees could harvest the nation's new found riches, especially profiting from the casinos in Cuba. This period was marked by considerable construction of private highrises, and public tunnels and roads, including the Havana-Varadero highway, the Rancho Boyeros airport, train lines, and an underwater tunnel. Havana became the third most expensive and dynamic city in the world with more TV sets, telephones and late model Cadillacs per household than any city in America. The "Civic Plaza," and all surrounding buildings, now renamed as Plaza de la Revolución (Revolutionary Square), where Fidel Castro often speaks, was completed in these times.

The Cuban people, tired of corrupt governments, were somewhat accepting of the coup at first, hoping that Batista would restore stability to the island after the political violence, labor unrest and government corruption that had occurred during Prío's tenure. Advocates of liberal democracy also viewed Batista's presidency as unconstitutional and unacceptable because he was not elected. So, due to popular unrest and to appease the United States, Batista held he held a mock election in which there were no other legal candidates, to become the elected president of Cuba in 1954.

Despite the unprecedented economic prosperity of the 1950s, opposition parties like the Ortodoxo and the Auténtico managed to promote social unrest instigating university students to plant bombs and kill civilians and military personnel alike. Batista responded with repression of the subversives. Ultimately, the existing government corruption, tainted with claims of close relationships with the mafia, saw a rise in general opposition to his regime from the rich and middle class Cubans.

Opposition

On July 26, 1953, a small group of young revolutionaries led by Fidel Castro attacked the Moncada Army Barracks in Santiago, Oriente Province, in an attempt to overthrow Batista. The attack was unsuccessful, and Batista ordered that the rebels involved either be imprisoned or murdered. Castro, along with other survivors of the Moncada attack, were not released from jail until May 15, 1955.

Near the end of 1955, anti-Batista demonstrations and student rioting were frequent. The military police dealt with the opposition violently. Students who wanted to march from the University of Havana were stopped by the police and beaten; and, one of the student leaders, José A. Echeverría, had to be hosptialized. Batista shut down the University of Havana after continued student opposition to the government; and, after a radio broadcast on March 13, 1957, student leader Echeverría was killed by police.

Batista suspended constitutional rights and put tighter censorship restrictions on what the media could report. The military police patrolled streets picking up anyone suspected of being part of the insurrection. By the end of 1955, brutality and torture had become more frequent and the legal consequences of such acts were often disregarded.

In 1956, Fidel Castro and other rebels returned to Cuba and, despite being attacked by the army, eventually set up camp in the Sierra Maestra mountains. Castro's guerrilla army raided isolated army garrisons in order to build up their stock of weapons and ammuntition. They took control of land from Batista and redistributed it amongst the peasants. In return, the peasants helped Castro's guerrillas against Batista's army; and, some of the peasants, as well as students, joined Castro's movement. Batista responded by sending more than 10,000 troops to the Sierra Maestra to find Castro and his guerrillas. Despite being outnumbered, Castro's forces scored a series of victories, aided by the corruption of Batista's leading army officers and massive desertions.

During this period, the U.S. broke off relations with Batista, stating that a peaceful transition to a new government was necessary and imposed an embargo preventing Batista from acquiring American arms. U.S. companies still had extensive business interests in Cuba at this time, and the unrest was damaging to these businesses.

Against this backdrop of a growing civil war, Batista, constitutionally prohibited from continuing as president, organized an election in which his preferred candidate Carlos Rivero Aguero defeated Grau. That was not enough, however, as his regime began to collapse. On New Year's Eve Batista fled in the night; and, on January 1, 1959, Batista's regime collapsed after his departure from Cuba. Castro's forces entered Havana one week later on January 8, 1959.

Aftermath

Batista fled from Castro and what became the Cuban Revolution in the middle of the night while stealing millions of dollars from the country. He then moved from the Dominican Republic to Portugal, and then to Marbella, Spain, where he wrote books for the remainder of his life. These include Cuba Betrayed and The Growth and Decline of the Cuban Republic, which apologize for his troublesome role in Cuban politics. He never returned to Cuba, and died of a heart attack in Spain on August 6, 1973. Much like Machado, Batista started with good intentions and attempted to create a consensus coalition to move the social, economic and political framework of the country towards a stable liberal democracy but lost that vision as time progressed.

Selected bibliography

• Basamentos democráticos (Democratic basements) (1949)
• Cuba Betrayed (1962)
• Cuba, su política interna y sus relaciones exteriores (Cuba, its internal politics and its foreign affairs) (1939)
• Dos fechas (aniversarios y testimonios) (Two dates [anniversaries and testimonies]) (1973)
• Militarismo, anti-militarismo, seudo-militarismo (Militarism, anti-militarism, pseudo-militarism) (1939)
• Paradojas (Paradoxes) (1963)
• Piedras y leyes (Stones and laws) (1961)
• Plan trienal de Cuba, o, Plan de reconstruccion economico-social (P.R.E.S) (Triennial plan of Cuba, or, Plan of economic-social reconstruction) (1938)
• Plataforma presidencial de F. Batista (Presidential Platform of F. Batista) (1940)
• Respuesta (Answer) (1960)
• Sombras de America (Shadows of America) (1946)
• The Growth and Decline of the Cuban Republic (1964)
• To Rule is to Forsee (1962)

See also

Cuba Portal

• Cuban Revolution

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Argote-Freyre, Frank Fulgencio Batista: From Revolutionary to Strongman New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2006 ISBN 0813537010
• Karol, K.S. Trans. Arnold Pomerans Guerrilas in Power: The Coure of the Cuban Revolution New York: Hill & Wang, 1970 ISBN 0809053470
• Matthews, Herbert L. Revolution in Cuba New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1975 ISBN 0684142139
• Rice, Earle Jr. The Cuban Revolution World History Series San Diego, CA: Lucent Books, 1995 ISBN 1560062754

External links

• Sierra, Jerry Fulgencio Batista, Cuban Dictator historyofcuba.com Retrieved September 24, 2007
• Sierra, Jerry Fulgencio Batista, from The History of Cuba historyofcuba.com Retrieved September 24, 2007
• American Experience: Fidel Castro: People & Events: Fulgencio Batista (1901-1973) PBS Retrieved September 24, 2007
• Fulgencio Batista Spartacus Educational Retrieved September 24, 2007

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