Editing Fulgencio Batista (section)

===Support of U.S. business and government===
[[File:Gold coated telephone batista ITT habana.JPG|thumb|right|Batista's [[Golden Telephone]] is now in Havana's [[Museum of the Revolution (Cuba)|Museum of the Revolution]] as a symbol of Batista era corruption.]]
{{primary sources section|date=March 2021}}
{{blockquote| At the beginning of 1959 United States companies owned about 40 percent of the Cuban sugar lands—almost all the cattle ranches—90 percent of the mines and mineral concessions—80 percent of the utilities—practically all the oil industry—and supplied two-thirds of Cuba's imports.|John F. Kennedy<ref name = "JFK1960" />}}

In a manner that antagonized the Cuban people, the U.S. government used its influence to advance the interests of and increase the profits of the private American companies, which "dominated the island's economy".<ref name = "JFK1960" /> By the late 1950s, U.S. financial interests owned 90% of Cuban mines, 80% of its public utilities, 50% of its railways, 40% of its sugar production and 25% of its bank deposits—some $1 billion in total.<ref name="Smithson"/>  U.S. financial interests in the region were aided by Batista’s announcement of a decree in September 1958 which allowed U.S. corporations to control "all transactions originating or consummated outside of Cuba without being subject to Cuban taxes" by setting up a central office in the country.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Morley |first=Morris H. |date=1982 |title=The U.S. Imperial State in Cuba 1952-1958: Policymaking and Capitalist Interests |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/155730 |journal=Journal of Latin American Studies |volume=14 |issue=1 |pages=143–170 |issn=0022-216X}}</ref> According to historian Louis A. Pérez Jr., author of the book ''On Becoming Cuban'', "Daily life had developed into a relentless degradation, with the complicity of political leaders and public officials who operated at the behest of American interests."<ref name="Smithson">[http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/before-the-revolution-159682020/ Before the Revolution] by Natasha Geiling, ''Smithsonian Magazine'', July 31, 2007.</ref>

By 1957, U.S. private investments made since the military coup totaled in excess of $350 million, aided by a series of measures introduced by Batista meant to encourage foreign investment through tax and customs duty exemptions in a mutually beneficial deal, wherein U.S. companies were able to hold monopolies in public utilities and consumer goods in exchange for financial aid and rebuilding of infrastructure.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Morley |first=Morris H. |date=1982 |title=The U.S. Imperial State in Cuba 1952-1958: Policymaking and Capitalist Interests |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/155730 |journal=Journal of Latin American Studies |volume=14 |issue=1 |pages=143–170 |issn=0022-216X}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Merrill |first=Dennis |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5149/9780807898635_merrill?turn_away=true |title=Negotiating Paradise: U.S. Tourism and Empire in Twentieth-Century Latin America |date=2009 |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |isbn=978-0-8078-3288-2 |doi=10.5149/9780807898635_merrill?turn_away=true}}</ref> As a symbol of this relationship, [[ITT Corporation]], an American-owned multinational telephone company, presented Batista with a [[Golden Telephone]], as an "expression of gratitude" for the "excessive telephone rate increase", at least according to Senator John F. Kennedy, that Batista granted at the urging of the U.S. government.<ref name="JFK1960" />{{primary source inline|date=March 2021}}

[[Earl E.T. Smith]], former U.S. Ambassador to Cuba, testified to the U.S. Senate in 1960 that, "Until Castro, the U.S. was so overwhelmingly influential in Cuba that the American ambassador was the second most important man, sometimes even more important than the Cuban president."<ref>''Ernesto "Che" Guevara (World Leaders Past & Present)'', by Douglas Kellner, 1989, Chelsea House Publishers, {{ISBN|1-55546-835-7}}, p. 66.</ref> In addition, nearly "all aid" from the U.S. to Batista's government was in the "form of weapons assistance", which "merely strengthened the Batista dictatorship" and "completely failed to advance the economic welfare of the Cuban people". The U.S. Department of Defense provided equipment and arms valued over $16 million and organized officer training for over 500 Cuban officers during the Batista period.<ref name="JFK1960" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Klare |first=Michael T. |title=War Without End: American Planning for the next Vietnams |date=1 January 1972 |publisher=New York, Vintage Books |isbn=9780394462141 |edition=1st |location=New York |pages=278 |language=en}}</ref>{{primary source inline|date=March 2021}} Such actions later "enabled Castro and the Communists to encourage the growing belief that America was indifferent to Cuban aspirations for a decent life."<ref name="JFK1960" />{{primary source inline|date=March 2021}}

According to historian and author [[James S. Olson]], the U.S. government essentially became a "co-conspirator" in the arrangement because of Batista's strong opposition to communism, which, in the rhetoric of the [[Cold War]], seemed to maintain business stability and a pro-U.S. posture on the island.<ref name = "Dictionary1950" /> Thus, in the view of Olson, "The U.S. government had no difficulty in dealing with him, even if he was a hopeless [[Despotism|despot]]."<ref name = "Dictionary1950" /> On October 6, 1960, Senator [[John F. Kennedy]], in the midst of his campaign for the U.S. presidency, decried Batista's relationship with the U.S. government and criticized the Eisenhower administration for supporting him. The Eisenhower administration’s expenses on military aid for Batista’s regime increased from $400,000 in 1953 to $3 million by 1958.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Merrill |first=Dennis |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5149/9780807898635_merrill?turn_away=true |title=Negotiating Paradise: U.S. Tourism and Empire in Twentieth-Century Latin America |date=2009 |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |isbn=978-0-8078-3288-2 |doi=10.5149/9780807898635_merrill.7}}</ref> The U.S. subsequently suspended the shipment of combat arms to the Cuban government in March 1958, with the Acting Secretary of State Christian A. Herter asserting that "in our best judgement, we could not continue to supply weapons to a government which was resorting to such repressive measures of internal security as to have alienated some 80 percent of the Cuban people."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Historical Documents - Office of the Historian |url=https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1958-60v06/d189 |access-date=2025-05-16 |website=history.state.gov}}</ref>

{{blockquote|“I loved Havana and was horrified by the way this lovely city had unfortunately been transformed into a huge casino and [[brothel]] for American businessmen […]. My fellow countrymen walked the streets, picked up fourteen-year-old Cuban girls and threw coins just for the pleasure of watching men roll around in the sewers and picking them up. One wondered how Cubans – seeing this reality – could regard the United States in any other way than with hatred.”|[[Arthur Meier Schlesinger]], personal advisor to President [[John F. Kennedy|Kennedy]]<ref>{{cite web|access-date=29 August 2017 |archive-date=6 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180706163819/http://operamundi.uol.com.br/conteudo/babel/31916/50+verites+sur+la+dictature+de+fulgencio+batista+a+cuba.shtml |language=fr |title=50 vérités sur la dictature de Fulgencio Batista à Cuba |url=http://operamundi.uol.com.br/conteudo/babel/31916/50+verites+sur+la+dictature+de+fulgencio+batista+a+cuba.shtml |website=Opera Mundi}}<!-- auto-translated from Spanish by Module:CS1 translator --></ref>}}