To: Brumar89 who wrote (938350 ) 6/6/2016 12:08:00 AM From: Broken_Clock Read Replies (1) | Respond to Sounds like paradise. You'd think all those literate Cubanos would know how good they had it under Bautista.::This name uses Spanish naming customs : the first or paternal family name is Batista and the second or maternal family name is Zaldívar . 9th and 12th President of Cuba Prime MinisterPreceded bySucceeded byPrime MinisterPreceded bySucceeded by Cuban Senator ConstituencyPersonal detailsBornDiedPolitical partySpouse(s)ChildrenReligionMilitary serviceAllegianceService/branchYears of serviceRankFulgencio Batista Zaldívar (Spanish: [ful'xensjo ßa'tista i sal'dißar] ; January 16, 1901 – August 6, 1973) more commonly known as Fulgencio Batista , was the elected President of Cuba from 1940 to 1944, and dictator from 1952 to 1959, before being overthrown during the Cuban Revolution . [1] Batista initially rose to power as part of the 1933 Revolt of the Sergeants that overthrew the authoritarian rule of Gerardo Machado . Batista then appointed himself chief of the armed forces, with the rank of colonel , and effectively controlled the five-member Presidency. He maintained this control through a string of puppet presidents until 1940, when he was himself elected President of Cuba on a populist platform. [2] [3] He then instated the 1940 Constitution of Cuba , considered progressive for its time, [4] and served until 1944. After finishing his term he lived in the United States, returning to Cuba to run for president in 1952. Facing certain electoral defeat, he led a military coup that preempted the election.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. [5] Batista's increasingly corrupt and repressive government then began to systematically profit from the exploitation of Cuba's commercial interests, by negotiating lucrative relationships with the American mafia , who controlled the drug, gambling, and prostitution businesses in Havana , and with large US-based multinationals who were awarded lucrative contracts. [5] [6] 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 to carry out wide-scale violence, torture and public executions ; ultimately killing anywhere from 1,000 to 20,000 people. [7] [8] [9] For several years until 1959, the Batista government received financial, military, and logistical support from the United States. [10] Fidel Castro 's July 26 Movement and other nationalist 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 Oliveira Salazar 's Portugal , where he lived until dying of a heart attack on August 6, 1973, near Marbella , Spain . [11]
