Editing Fulgencio Batista (section)

==Post-presidency==
In 1944, Batista's handpicked successor, [[Carlos Saladrigas Zayas]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/cuba/voting-ballot.jpg|title=See}}</ref> was defeated by Grau. In the final months of his presidency, Batista sought to handicap the incoming Grau administration. In a July 17, 1944, dispatch to the U.S. Secretary of State, U.S. Ambassador [[Spruille Braden]] wrote:

{{blockquote|It is becoming increasingly apparent that President Batista intends to discomfit the incoming Administration in every way possible, particularly financially. A systematic raid on the Treasury is in full swing with the result that Dr. Grau will probably find empty coffers when he takes office on October 10. It is blatant that President Batista desires that Dr. Grau San Martin should assume obligations which in fairness and equity should be a matter of settlement by the present Administration.<ref>{{Citation|title=Foreign relations of the United States : diplomatic papers, 1944|url=http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/FRUS/FRUS-idx?type=turn&entity=FRUS.FRUS1944v07.p0924&id=FRUS.FRUS1944v07&isize=L&q1=grau%20san%20martin|last=United States Department of State|author-link=United States Department of State|year=1944|work=The American Republics|publisher=[[University of Wisconsin]] Digital Collections|page=910|volume=VII|access-date=April 8, 2010}}</ref>}}

Shortly after, Batista left Cuba for the United States. "I just felt safer there," he said. He divorced his wife, [[Elisa Godínez Gómez de Batista|Elisa Godínez]], and married [[Marta Fernández Miranda de Batista|Marta Fernández]] in 1945. Two of their four children were born in the United States.

For the next eight years, Batista remained in the background, spending time in the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City and a home in Daytona Beach, Florida.<ref name="PBSBatista"/>

He continued to participate in Cuban politics and was elected to the Cuban Senate ''in absentia'' in 1948. Returning to Cuba, he decided to run for president and received permission from President Grau, whereupon he formed the United Action Party. On taking power he founded the Progressive Action Party, but he never regained his former popular support, though the unions supported him until the end.<ref>[http://latinamericanhistory.about.com/od/historyofthecaribbean/a/08fbatista.htm Biography of Fulgencio Batista – Profile] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090222015325/http://latinamericanhistory.about.com/od/historyofthecaribbean/a/08fbatista.htm |date=February 22, 2009}} About.com.</ref><ref>[http://www.ne.se/lang/batista] {{dead link|date=June 2016|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>