Fulgencio Batista pictured with his wife Marta Fernandez Miranda de Batista, 23-year-old son Jorge Batista Fernandez and his wife Rosa, Roberto Francisco Batista Fernandez, Carlos Batista Fernandez, Fulgencio Ruben Batista Godinez, and Martita, in the terraced gardens of the hotel overlooking Formentor Bay in April 1966.
(Cuba Betrayed, first published in 1962, is an autobiograp...)
Cuba Betrayed, first published in 1962, is an autobiographical work of former Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista, in which he expresses his viewpoint regarding his two terms as a dictator, his defeat, and his successors.
(An important book in the history of Cuba by Fulgencio Bat...)
An important book in the history of Cuba by Fulgencio Batista who rose from abject poverty, made incredible sacrifices to gain an education, and eventually rose to prominence and eventually became President.
Fulgencio Batista was a Cuban political and military officer who served as President of Cuba from 1940 to 1944 and from 1952 to 1959. He also was Cuban Senator from 1948 to 1952.
Background
Ethnicity:
Fulgencio Batista was of Spanish, African, Taíno and Chinese descent. It's also worth saying, that one of Batista's parents may have had Indigenous Caribbean blood.
Fulgencio Batista was born as Rubén Zaldívar on January 16, 1901, in Banes, Cuba. He was the son of Belisario Batista Palermo, a freedom fighter under General José Maceo in the Cuban War of Independence, and Carmela Zaldívar González. Batista aslo had three brothers.
Education
Fulgencio Batista received his early education at a public school in Banes. Later he attended an American Quaker school. Batista also attended evening classes at the National School of Journalism.
Career
When Fulgencio Batista turned 12 he started to work in the sugar cane fields with his father. He also worked in a variety of small jobs in town, including as an apprentice to a barber and a tailor. After the death of his mother in 1916, Batista ran away from home. Between 1916 and 1921, Batista was frequently destitute, often homeless, and traveled while working an odd assortment of jobs until landing a job with the Ferrocarriles del Norte railway in Camagüey Province.
In 1921, Fulgencio Batista joined the Cuban army and joined the First Battalion of the 4th Infantry in Havana on April 14, 1921. In 1923, he left the army and briefly worked as a teacher of stenography. Later Batista enlisted in the rural police and soon he transferred back to the army. He became a sergeant in 1928 and worked as an army stenographer for General Machado's Chief of Staff, General Herrera. The repressive government of General Gerardo Machado fell apart in 1933 and Batista organized the so-called "Sergeants' Rebellion" of non-commissioned officers and seized control of the armed forces. With five leaders from different rebel factions, a coalition named Pentarchy of 1933 was formed to run the country. Batista was not a member but controlled Cuba's armed forces. Later, when Ramón Grau San Martín was made president, Fulgencio Batista became the Army Chief of Staff, with the rank of colonel.
On January 15, 1934, the unique alliance between students and the military collapsed, and Batista forced Grau to resign, thus frustrating the revolutionary process that had begun with Machado's overthrow. For the next six years, Cuba was ruled by a series of puppet presidents, with Batista pulling the strings from the back. In 1940, he contested the general election with the support of the Democratic Socialist Coalition. Although he presided over a relatively stable time and the economy was good, he was defeated in the 1944 elections by Dr. Ramón Grau.
Fulgencio Batista moved to the United States following Grau's inauguration. However, he continued to be involved in Cuban politics, winning a seat in the Senate in absentia in 1948. He returned to Cuba that same year, organized the Progressive Action Party and announced his presidential candidacy for the June 1952 elections. On March 10, 1952, however, Batista, joined by a group of army officers, overthrew the constitutionally elected regime of President Carlos Prío Socarrás. He introduced several sweeping political reforms that provoked discontent and numerous protests.
In order to sate the growing unrest in the country, Batista held an election in 1954 with Grau as his major opponent. But Grau withdrew just a few days before the election, accusing the government of election fraud. Batista was elected without contest, bringing supposed legitimacy to his administration. He crushed Fidel Castro's initial attempts at armed rebellion at the Moncada Barracks in Santiago on July 26, 1953. Most of the rebels were killed, the rest, including Castro, were put into jail. However, this has not reduced the number of protests. On March 13, 1957, an attack on the Presidential Palace by students and followers of deposed President Prío nearly succeeded in killing Batista. The Batista government met terrorism with counterterrorism.
On December 9, 1958, United States financier William D. Pawley met with Batista on behalf of the State Department, offering sanctuary for Batista and his family in Florida. However, Batista refused the generous American offer and on January 1, 1959, he, along with 40 supporters and immediate family, fled to the Dominican Republic. Later, he settled in Portugal and worked for an insurance company. Batista also wrote several books. He died on August 6, 1973, near Marbella, Málaga, Spain, two days before a team of assassins from Castro's Cuba were allegedly planning to carry out his assassination.
Fulgencio Batista was a Cuban military officer and politician who was known as President of Cuba from 1940 to 1944 and from 1952 to 1959. Batista also was known as a dictator, who jailed his opponents, using terrorist methods, and making fortunes for himself and his associates. He was a politician who established business relations with the organized crime sector.
Fulgencio Batista was awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany.
In the 1974 American crime film The Godfather Part II, directed by Francis Ford Coppola, Batista was portrayed by actor Tito Alba. Fulgencio Batista's portrait was featured on one of the stamps in Panama's 1956 series.
(An important book in the history of Cuba by Fulgencio Bat...)
1964
Politics
Fulgencio Batista entered the Democratic Socialist Coalition in 1939. With the support of that coalition, he was able to become president in 1940. Desiring to win popular support, he sponsored an impressive body of welfare legislation. Public administration, health, education, and public works improved. Batista established rural hospitals and minimum wage laws, increased salaries for public and private employees, and started a program of rural schools under army control. He legalized the Cuban Communist Party and in 1943 established diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union.
With Batista in power, the army received higher pay, pensions, better food, and modern medical care, thus ensuring its loyalty. On December 9, 1941, following the attack on Pearl Harbor, Batista brought Cuba into World War II on the Allied side. Air and naval bases were made available to the United States, which purchased most of Cuba's sugar production and provided generous loans and grants.
After Batista lost his post of president in 1944, he moved to the United States for a while before deciding to re-enter Cuban politics. In 1948, he was elected Senator and entered the Liberal Party of Cuba. However, in 1949, he established the Unitary Action Party that later was renamed the Progressive Action Party. This Party was based on a combination of strong conservatism and economic liberalism. It also was an anti-communist Party.
When Fulgencio Batista became President of Cuba for the second time, he revoked most of the political liberties and prompted certain economic changes. According to Batista's government, although a third of Cubans still lived in poverty, Cuba was one of the five most developed countries in the region. Corruption and inequality were rife under Batista, but at the same time, Cuban industrial workers' wages rose significantly. However, by the late 1950s, the United States corporations owned 90% of Cuban mines, 80% of public utilities, and 50% of its railways.
Batista also gave a free rein to organized crime, particularly to American mobsters such as Meyer Lansky and Lucky Luciano. North Americans flocked to the island for relaxation and to stay at the famous hotels and casinos. Cuba became synonymous with a good time for vacationers.
Fulgencio Batista fought the revolutionary movements, led by Fidel Castro. Most of the rebels were killed, the rest was put into jail. Batista also closed the University of Havana where the students were organizing demonstrations, which often turned violent. On March 13, 1957, an assassination attempt was made on his life, led by student leader José Antonio Echeverría. Batista's response was brutal. Echeverria was killed in a police shootout. The rest of the students involved were either killed on the same day or were eventually hunted down. By 1958, the national revulsion against Batista had developed. Finally, defections from the army precipitated the fall of the regime on January 1, 1959.
Personality
Those who knew Fulgencio Batista said that he was corrupt, violent, and out of touch with his people.
Physical Characteristics:
Batista died of a heart attack.
Quotes from others about the person
Senator John F. Kennedy: "Fulgencio Batista murdered 20,000 Cubans in seven years and he turned Democratic Cuba into a complete police state – destroying every individual liberty. Yet our aid to his regime, and the ineptness of our policies, enabled Batista to invoke the name of the United States in support of his reign of terror. Administration spokesmen publicly praised Batista – hailed him as a staunch ally and a good friend – at a time when Batista was murdering thousands, destroying the last vestiges of freedom, and stealing hundreds of millions of dollars from the Cuban people, and we failed to press for free elections."
Connections
Fulgencio Batista married Elisa Godínez y Gómez on July 10, 1926. The marriage produced three children: Mirta Caridad, Elisa Aleida, and Fulgencio Rubén Batista Godínez. Batista and Godínez y Gómez divorced in October 1945.
Batista married Marta Fernández Miranda on November 28, 1945. The marriage produced five children: Jorge Luis, Roberto Francisco, Carlos Manuel, Fulgencio José and Marta María Batista Fernández. He also had an illegitimate daughter, Fermina Lázara Batista Estévez.
Father:
Belisario Batista Palermo
Mother:
Carmela Zaldívar González
Wife:
Marta Fernandez Miranda de Batista
Marta Fernandez Miranda de Batista (November 11, 1923 – October 2, 2006) was First Lady of Cuba from 1952 until 1959.
ex-wife:
Elisa Godínez Gómez de Batista
Elisa Godínez Gómez de Batista (1905 – December 7, 1993) was the First Lady of Cuba from 1940 to 1944.
Daughter:
Fermina Lázara Batista Estévez
(born 1935)
Daughter:
Elisa Aleida
(born 1933)
Daughter:
Marta María Batista Fernández
(born 1957)
Daughter:
Mirta Caridad Batista y Godinez
(1927 – 2010)
Son:
Jorge Luis
(born 1942)
Son:
Fulgencio José Batista Fernández
(born 1953)
Son:
Carlos Manuel
(1950 – 1969)
Son:
Roberto Francisco
(born 1947)
Son:
Fulgencio Rubén Batista Godínez
(1933 – 2007)
Brother:
Francisco "Panchín" Batista
(1911 – 1970)
Brother:
Juan Batista Zaldívar
(born 1905)
Brother:
Hermelindo Batista Zaldívar
(born 1906)
References
A Sergeant Named Batista
Historical biography on Cuba's President and Revolutionary leader, Fulgencio Batista. Written in 1954 by Edmund A. Chester.
