Fulgencio Batista

Fulgencio Batista
President of Cuba
In office 10 October 1940 – 10 October 1944
Vice President	Gustavo Cuervo Rubio
Preceded by	Federico Laredo Brú
Succeeded by	Ramón Grau
In office 10 March 1952 – 1 January 1959
Preceded by	Carlos Prío
Succeeded by	Anselmo Alliegro
Personal details
Born	thumb (1901-01-16)January 16, 1901 Banes, Cuba
Died	August 6, 1973(1973-08-06) (aged 72) Guadalmina, Spain
Resting place	thumb
Nationality	Cuban
Political party	United Action Party, Progressive Action Party
Spouse(s)	1st Elisa Godinez-Gómez 2nd Marta Fernandez Miranda de Batista
Children	Mirta Caridad Batista Godinez Elisa Aleida Batista Godinez Fulgencio Rubén Batista Godinez Jorge Batista Fernández Roberto Francisco Batista Fernández Carlos Batista Fernández
Parent	thumb

Fulgencio Batista y Zaldívar (IPA: [fulˈxensjo βaˈtista i salˈdiβar]) (January 16, 1901 – August 6, 1973) was a Cuban labor union leader, general and president.

Born to a partially Afro-Cuban family, he is the only mulatto leader in modern Cuban history. Coming from a humble background, he made a living as a laborer in the cane fields, docks, railroads. He was a tailor, mechanic, charcoal vender, fruit peddler, and finally an Army stenographer. When the Cuban military brought an end to Gerardo Machado's hated rule in 1933, Batista served as leader from 1933 to 1940.

Batista, endorsed by the Communist Party of Cuba, won free elections in 1940 and served a four year term as President of Cuba. During this time, Batista carried out major social reforms. He launched economic regulations and pro-union policies. Later, after staging a coup in 1952, Batista ruled as the nation's dictator. He was backed by labor unions, communists, and at first the U.S., but The United States imposed an embargo on the government and recalled their ambassador, weakening the government's mandate furthermore. He became increasingly unpopular among the public. His support was limited to communists (PSP) and even communists began to pull their long-term support to Batista in mid-1958. Labor unions backed Batista until the very end. He was ousted on January 1, 1959, by guerrillas led by Fidel Castro and the 26th of July Movement. Batista, reviled as a "corrupt tyrant", fled the island in the early morning hours as rebel forces entered Havana.

He authored six books.

Early life

Fulgencio was born in Banes, Cuba in 1901 to Belisario Batista Palermo and Carmela Zaldívar González, Cubans who fought for independence from Spain. His mother named him Rubén and gave him her last name, Zaldívar. His father did not want to register him as a Batista. In the registration records of the Banes courthouse he was legally Rubén Zaldívar until 1939, when, as Fulgencio Batista, he became a presidential candidate, but it was discovered that this name did not exist. It's alleged that a judge was bribed 15,000 Cuban pesos (about the same amount in U.S. dollars at the time) to fix the discrepancy.

Of very humble origins, Batista began working at a very early age. A self-educated man, he attended night school and is said to have been a voracious reader. Batista was considered socially a mulatto (mixed African and European ancestry), although other sources state that he had Chinese ancestry as well. He bought a ticket to Havana and joined the army in 1921. After promotion to Sergeant, Batista became the union leader of Cuba's soldiers.

The Coup of 1933

In an uprising known as the "Revolt of the Sergeants," Batista took over the Cuban government on September 4, 1933. The coup overthrew the government of Gerardo Machado.

Batista placed presidents, a total of four, in power until 1940. One of the provisional governments that was replaced was that of Carlos Manuel de Céspedes y Quesada, at the request of the coalition that had recently ousted President Gerardo Machado. Céspedes was a well-respected civil engineer and the most successful minister in the Machado government but lacked a political coalition that could sustain him.

Initially a presidency composed of five members, one each anti-Machado faction, was created, but within days the representative for the students and professors of the University of Havana, Ramón Grau San Martín, was made president and Batista became the Army Chief of Staff, with the rank of colonel, and effectively controlled the presidency. The majority of the commissioned officer corps was forcefully retired or, as some speculate, were killed.

Grau was president for just over 100 days before Batista forced him to resign in January 1934. He was replaced by Carlos Mendieta and within five days the U.S. recognised Cuba's new government, which lasted 11 months. Succeeding governments were led by José Barnet (5 months) and Miguel Mariano Gómez (7 months) before Federico Laredo Brú managed to rule from December 1936 to October 1940.

First Presidency (1940-1944)

Batista won free elections in 1940. Supported by a coalition of political parties, notably the old Cuban Communist Party, he defeated his rival Grau in the first presidential election under the new Cuban constitution. Communists attacked the anti-Batista opposition, saying that Grau and others were "fascists", "reactionaries", and "Trotskyists".

Under Batista's rule a new constitution was drafted which was, by all standards, a progressive document. It called for government intervention in the economy and provided a social safety net.

Post-Presidency

In 1944, Batista's handpicked candidate was defeated by Grau, a favorite of the Cuban people, and Batista was practically thrown out of Cuba. Shortly after the inauguration of his successor Batista left Cuba for the United States. "I just felt safer there," he said. He divorced his wife, Elisa, and married Marta Fernández in 1945; they have two children born in the United States.

For the next eight years Batista remained in the background, living luxuriously, spending time between the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City and in his mansion in Daytona Beach (near near Meyer Lansky’s Florida headquarters).

But he kept his finger in Cuban politics. He was elected to the Senate in absentia in 1948, returned to Cuba. He decided to run for president and was given permission by President Grau, whereupon he formed the Unitarian Action Party.

Relationship with Fidel Castro

In 1951, Fidel Castro said to Batista "I don't see an important book here". When Batista asked which, Castro replied "Curzio Malaparte's The Technique of the Coup d'Etat".

According to Rafael Diaz-Ballart, Fidel Castro realized that Batista was not a revolutionary leader anymore, even though both looked at each other with admiration.

Second Coup (1952-1959)

Fulgencio Batista in 1952.

In 1952, Batista again ran for president in a three-way race. Roberto Agramonte of the Ortodoxos party led in all the polls, followed by Dr. Carlos Hevia of the Auténtico party, while Batista was running a distant third. Both Agramonte and Hevia had decided to name Colonel Ramón Barquín, who was then serving as the Cuban military attache in Washington, D.C. from 1950 until 1956, to head the Cuban Armed Forces after the elections. Barquín was a top officer who commanded the respect of the professional army and had promised to eliminate corruption in the ranks.

On March 10, 1952 - three months before the elections and almost twenty years after the ‘Revolt of the Sergeants’ - the former president, with army backing, staged a coup and seized power. Batista ousted outgoing President Carlos Prío Socarrás, cancelled the elections and assumed government as "provisional president." Shortly after taking power by force the United States government recognized his regime.

Relationship with the Mafia

According to the conservative British newspaper, the Daily Telegraph, Batista had close relations with the Mafia:

Batista was a favourite of the mafia, a friend of the casino-owning mobster Meyer Lansky. During his first term in power, Havana's Hotel Nacional became a venue for mafia summits. Vito Genovese, Frank Costello and Santos Trafficante were regular visitors, together with stars like Frank Sinatra.

Batista's closest friend in the Mafia was reputedly famed mobster Meyer Lansky. During a stay at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York in the late 1940s, it was mutually agreed upon that, in exchange for kickbacks, Batista would offer Lansky and the Mafia control of Havana’s racetracks and casinos. Batista would open Havana to large scale gambling, and his government would match, dollar for dollar, any hotel investment over $1 million, which would include a casino license. Lansky would place himself at the center of Cuba's gambling operations. He immediately called on his "associates" to hold a summit in Havana.

The Havana Conference was held on December 22, 1946 at the Hotel Nacional. This would be the first full-scale meeting of American underworld leaders since the Chicago meeting in 1932. Present were such notable figures as Joe Adonis and Albert "The Mad Hatter" Anastasia from New York, Frank Costello, Joseph "Joe Bananas" Bonanno, Vito Genovese, Moe Dalitz, Thomas Luchese, Santo Trafficante Jr. from Tampa, Carlos Marcello from New Orleans, and Stefano Magaddino from Buffalo. From Chicago there was Anthony Accardo and the Fischetti brothers, "Tigger-Happy" Charlie and his brother Rocco, and, representing the Jewish interest, Lansky and “Dandy” Phil Kastel from Florida. The first to arrive was Salvatore Charlies Lucky Luciano, who had been deported to Italy, and had to travel to Havana with a false passport. Lansky shared with them his vision of a new Havana, profitable for those willing to invest the right sum of money. A city that could be their "Latin Las Vegas", where they would feel right at home since it was a place where drugs, prostitution, labor racketeering, and extortion were already commonplace. According to Luciano’s evidence, and he is the only one who ever recounted details of the events in any detail, he confirmed that he was appointed as kingpin for the mob, to rule from Cuba until such time as he could find a legitimate way back into the U.S. Entertainment at the conference was provided by, among others, Frank Sinatra, who flew down to Cuba with his friends, the Fischetti brothers who controlled his finances.

In 1952, Lansky even offered President Prío a bribe of U.S. $250,000 to step down so Batista could return to power. Once Batista snatched control of the government that he had relinquished, he quickly put gambling back on track. The dictator contacted Lansky and offered him an annual salary of U.S. $25,000 to serve as an unofficial gambling minister. By 1955, Batista had changed the gambling laws once again granting a gaming license to anyone who invested $1 million in a hotel or $200,000 in a new nightclub. And that meant anyone. Unlike the procedure for acquiring gaming licenses in Vegas, this provision exempted venture capitalists from background checks. As long as they made the required investment, they were provided with public matching funds for construction, a 10-year tax exemption and duty-free importation of equipment and furnishings. The government would to get $25,000 for license plus a percentage of the profits from each casino. Cuba’s 10,000 slot machines, even the ones which dispensed small prizes for children at country fairs, were to be the province of Batista's brother-in-law Roberto Fernandez y Miranda. An Army general and government sports director, Roberto was also given the parking meters in Havana as a little something extra. Import duties were waived on materials for hotel construction and Cuban contractors with the right "in" made windfalls by importing much more than was needed and selling the surplus to others for hefty profits. It was rumored that besides the U.S. $250,000 to get a license a fee sometimes more was required under the table. Periodic payoffs were requested and received by corrupt politicians.

Once all the new hotels, nightclubs and casinos had been built Batista wasted no time collecting his share of the profits. Nightly, the "bagman" for his wife collected 10 percent of the profits at Trafficante's interests; the Sans Souci caberet, and the casinos in the hotels Sevilla-Biltmore, Commodoro, Deauville and Capri (part-owned by the actor George Raft). His take from the Lansky casinos, the Nacional, the Habana Riviera, Montmartre Club and others, was said to be 30 percent. What exactly Batista and his cronies actually received in total in the way of bribes, payoffs and profiteering has never been certified. The slot machines alone would contribute approximately U.S. $1 million to the regime's bank account.

The Emergence of Fidel Castro

Just over a year after Batista's second coup, a small group of revolutionaries attacked the Moncada Barracks in Santiago on July 26, 1953. The rebellion was easily crushed and many of its leaders killed, while others were jailed. Among the jailed was Fidel Castro, a young attorney who had run for parliament in the cancelled 1952 elections.

Batista held an election in 1954, which the opposition boycotted. Just before the election his opponent, Grau, withdrew from the campaign, charging that his supporters had been terrorized. Thus, Batista was elected president with 45.1% of votes. Grau received only 6.8%.

The distinguished Colonel Cosme de la Torriente, a surviving veteran of the Cuban War of Independence, emerged in late 1955 to offer compromise. A series of meetings led by de la Torriente became known as "El Diálogo Cívico" (The Civic Dialogue). Writes Hugh Thomas: "This Diálogo Cívico represented what turned out to be the last hope for Cuban middle-class democracy, but Batista was far too strong and entrenched in his position to make any concessions."

By late 1955, student riots and anti-Batista demonstrations had become frequent. These were dealt with in the violent manner his military police had come to represent. Due to its continued opposition to Batista, the University of Havana was temporarily closed on November 30, 1956. (It would not reopen until early 1959, after a revolutionary victory.) Echeverría was killed by police after a radio broadcast and attempted attack on the Presidential Palace on March 13, 1957.

In April 1956, Batista appointed Barquín as General and Chief of the Army. However, Barquín's Conspiración de los Puros had already progressed too far. On April 6, 1956, Barquín led a coup by hundreds of career officers but was frustrated by Lieutenant Ríos Morejón, who betrayed the plan. Barquín was sentenced to solitary confinement for 8 years on the Isle of Pines, while many officers were sentenced to maximum penalties.

These measures broke the backbone of the Cuban army that would no longer be able to sustain a fight against Castro and his guerrilla army.

Exile

Faced with Batista's military ineptness and growing unpopularity, the United States began to seek an alternative to both Batista and to Castro. In March 1958, President Eisenhower, disillusioned with Batista's performance, suggested he hold elections. Batista did, but the people showed their dissatisfaction with his government by refusing to vote. Over 75 percent of the voters in the capital Havana boycotted the polls. In some areas, such as Santiago, it was as high as 98 percent. The election placed another Batista puppet, Andrés Rivero, in the president's chair but Batista knew that losing the support of the U.S. government meant his days in power were numbered.

On December 11, 1958, U.S. Ambassador Earl Smith visited Batista at his lavish hacienda, "Kuquines". There he informed him that the United States could no longer support his regime. Batista asked if he could go to his mansion in Daytona Beach. The ambassador declined his request and suggested instead that he seek exile in Spain.

On December 31, 1958, Batista raised a New Year's Eve toast to his cabinet members and senior military officers and wished them "hasta la vista" (an event memorably dramatized by Francis Ford Coppola in his film The Godfather Part II). After seven years of building Havana's tourism industry by inviting gangsters to construct casinos and run nightclubs, helping to fund their enterprises and taking a large chunk of the proceeds for himself, Batista knew his presidency was over.

On January 1, 1959, after formally resigning his position in Cuba's government and going through what historian Hugh Thomas describes as "a charade of handing over power" to his representatives, remaining family and closest associates, Batista boarded a plane at 3 a.m. at Camp Colombia with one hundred and eighty of his supporters and flew to Ciudad Trujillo in the Dominican Republic. Critics have accused Batista and his supporters of taking as much as $700 million U.S. dollars in fine art and cash with them as they fled into exile.

As news of the fall of Batista's government spread through Havana, The New York Times described the scene as one of jubilant crowds pouring into the streets and automobile horns honking. The black and red flag of the 26th of July Movement waved on automobiles and buildings. The atmosphere was chaotic. Wild-eyed young men and women erupted from their homes into the streets. Students poured out of the campuses. They cheered, they whistled, they danced in the streets when they heard that Batista had fled the country. People surged toward downtown Havana. They carried Cuban flags and sang the national anthem. Car caravans bedecked with flags, the horns blowing, inched through the marchers.

On January 8, 1959, Castro and his army rolled victoriously into Havana and received a euphoric welcome.

Personal life and death

He was married to Elisa Godinez-Gómez (1905-?) on July 10, 1926 and they had three children, Mirta Caridad (April 1927), Elisa Aleida (1933), and Fulgencio Rubén Batista Godinez (1933-2007 ). He later married Marta Fernandez Miranda de Batista (1920-2006) and they had two sons, Jorge and Roberto Francisco Batista Fernández.

Marta Fernandez Miranda de Batista, Batista's widow, died on October 2, 2006. Roberto Batista, her son, says that she died at her West Palm Beach home. She had suffered from Alzheimer's disease and had a heart attack on September 8, 2006. Batista was buried with her husband in San Isidro Cemetery in Madrid after a mass in West Palm Beach.

Raoul G. Cantero, III, grandson of Fulgencio Batista, who was born in Spain and naturalized in the United States, graduated from Harvard Law School. He was a Justice on the Florida Supreme Court.

Maria-Teresa, the present Grand Duchess of Luxembourg (born 1956), is a grand-niece of Feulgencio Batista (her maiden name was Maria-Teresa Mestre y Batista-Falla).

Batista later moved to Madeira, then Estoril, outside Lisbon, Portugal, where he lived and wrote books the rest of his life. He was also the Chairman of a Spanish life insurance company which invested in property and mortgages on the Spanish Riviera. He died of a heart attack on August 6, 1973 at Guadalmina, near Marbella, Spain.

Portrayals in popular culture

Film and television

• In Francis Ford Coppola’s 1974 film, The Godfather Part 2, President Batista is portrayed by Tito Alba.
• In the 1979 Richard Lester film Cuba, Batista is portrayed by British character actor, Wolfe Morris.

Books written by Batista

• Estoy con el Pueblo [I am With the People]. Havana, 1939.
• Repuesta. Manuel León Sánchez S.C.L., Mexico City, 1960.
• Piedras y leyes [Stones and Laws]. Mexico City, 1961.
• Cuba Betrayed. Vantage Press, New York, 1961. ASIN B0007DEH9A
• To Rule is to Foresee, 1962. ASIN B0007IYHK4
• The Growth and Decline of the Cuban Republic (translated by Blas M. Rocafort) Devin-Adair Company, New York, 1964. ISBN 0-8159-5614-2
• unfinished autobiography and archive in the University of Miami’s Cuban Heritage Collection [1]

Bibliographies on Batista

• Argote-Freyre, Frank. Fulgencio Batista: Volume 1, From Revolutionary to Strongman. Rutgers University Press, Rutgers, New Jersey, 2006. ISBN 0-8135-3701-0.
• Chester, Edmund A. A Sergeant Named Batista . Holt, 1954. ASIN B0007DPO1U
• Gellman, Irwin F. Roosevelt and Batista: Good neighbor diplomacy in Cuba, 1933-1945. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, NM, 1973. ISBN 0-8263-0284-X
• Valdés Sánchez, Servando Fulgencio Batista: El poder de las armas (1933-1940) Editora Historia, 1998. SBN 597048051.

History of the era

• Carrillo, Justo 1985 Cuba 1933: Estudiantes, Yanquis y Soldados. University of Miami Iberian Studies Institute ISBN 0-935501-00-2 Transaction Publishers (January 1994) ISBN 1-56000-690-0
• Fernández, Julio César 1940 Yo acuso a Batista. Construyendo a Cuba. Havana
• Kapcia A. 2002. The Siege of the Hotel Nacional, Cuba, 1933: A Reassessment. Journal of Latin American Studies, 34, 283-309.
• Otero, Juan Joaquin (1954). Libro De Cuba, Una Enciclopedia Ilustrada Que Abarca Las Artes, Las Letras, Las Ciencias, La Economia, La Politica, La Historia, La Docencia, Y ElProgreso General De La Nacion Cubana — Edicion Conmemorative del Cincuentenario de la Republica de Cuba, 1902-1952. Template:Es icon
• Phillips, R Hart 1935 Cuban side show. Cuban Press, Havana 2nd edition. ASIN B000860P60
• Phillips, R Hart. 1959 Cuba, Island of Paradox. McDowell Obolensky, New York, NY ASIN B0007E0OAU
• Phillips, R Hart. 1960 Cuba Island of Paradise 1960 Astor-Honor Inc, ISBN 0-8392-5012-6
• Phillips, Ruby Hart 1961 The Tragic Island: How Communism Came to Cuba. Englewood Cliffs, NJ
• Phillips, R Hart. 1962 The Cuban dilemma McDowell Obolensky, New York, NY Library of Congress number 6218787
• Smith, Earl T. 1962 (1991 edition) The Fourth Floor. Selous Foundation Press, Washington DC. ISBN 0-944273-06-8
• Hugh Thomas Cuba or the Pursuit of Freedom (Paperback) Da Capo Press; Updated edition (April, 1998) ISBN 0-306-80827-7
• Welles, Sumner 1944 The time for decision Harper & brothers ASIN B0006AQB0M