Editing Fulgencio Batista (section)

==1933 coup==
{{Main|Sergeants' Revolt}}
[[File:1933-Pentarchy w Batista.jpg|thumb|245px|left|The [[Pentarchy of 1933]] was a five-man presidency of Cuba, including José M. Irisari, Porfirio Franca, Guillermo Portela, [[Ramón Grau]], and Sergio Carbó. Batista (on the far right) controlled the armed forces.]]
In 1933, Batista led an uprising called the [[Sergeants' Revolt]], as part of the coup that overthrew the government of [[Gerardo Machado]].<ref name="PBSBatista">[https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/castro/peopleevents/p_batista.html American Experience: Fulgencio Batista] by ''PBS''.</ref> Machado was succeeded by [[Carlos Manuel de Céspedes y Quesada]], who lacked a political coalition that could sustain him and was soon replaced.<ref name="images.library.wisc.edu">Foreign Relations of the United States: Diplomatic Papers, 1933. The American Republics: Volume V, p. 384. http://images.library.wisc.edu/FRUS/EFacs/1933v05/reference/frus.frus1933v05.i0010.pdf {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210224203537/http://images.library.wisc.edu/FRUS/EFacs/1933v05/reference/frus.frus1933v05.i0010.pdf |date=February 24, 2021}}</ref>

Batista was not originally the leader of the movement.<ref name="AG">{{Cite web |date=2022-09-10 |title=Aquel golpe de Estado, Primera y Segunda parte {{!}} Radio Miami Today |url=https://radiomiamitoday.com/aquel-golpe-de-estado-primera-y-segunda-parte/ |access-date=2025-04-12 |language=es}}</ref> His contemporaries have claimed that he was called to join the conspiracy mainly because he was the only sergeant who had a car.<ref name="AG" />

A short-lived five-member presidency, known as the [[Pentarchy of 1933]], was established. The Pentarchy included a representative from each anti-Machado faction. Batista was not a member, but controlled Cuba's armed forces. 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, effectively putting him in control of the presidency.<ref name="Argote1">Frank Argote-Freyre. ''Fulgencio Batista: Volume 1, From Revolutionary to Strongman''. [[Rutgers University Press]], New Jersey.</ref> The majority of the commissioned officer corps were forced to retire or, some speculate, were killed.<ref name="Argote1" />

[[File:FBatistaWifeHandshake.jpg|right|thumb|Batista (left) with his first wife [[Elisa Godinez-Gómez]] on a 1938 visit to Washington, D.C., greeting the [[List of Cuban ambassadors to the United States|Cuban ambassador]], Pedro Fraga]]

Grau remained president for just over [[One Hundred Days Government|100 days]] before Batista, conspiring with the U.S. envoy [[Sumner Welles]], forced him to resign in January 1934.<ref name="PBSBatista"/> Grau was replaced by [[Carlos Mendieta]], and within five days the U.S. recognized Cuba's new government, which lasted eleven months. Batista then became the strongman behind a succession of puppet presidents until he was elected president in 1940.<ref name="PBSBatista"/> After Mendieta, succeeding governments were led by [[José Agripino Barnet]] (five months) and [[Miguel Mariano Gómez]] (seven months) before [[Federico Laredo Brú]] ruled from December 1936 to October 1940.<ref name="images.library.wisc.edu"/>