Editing Fulgencio Batista (section)

===Batista, Fidel Castro and the Cuban Revolution===
[[File:BatistaDC1938.jpg|280px|thumb|right|Batista with [[Chief of Staff of the United States Army|U.S. Army Chief of staff]] [[Malin Craig]] in Washington, D.C., riding in an [[Armistice Day]] parade, 1938]]
{{blockquote|I believe that there is no country in the world including any and all the countries under colonial domination, where economic colonization, humiliation and exploitation were worse than in Cuba, in part owing to my country's policies during the Batista regime. I approved the proclamation which Fidel Castro made in the Sierra Maestra, when he justifiably called for justice and especially yearned to rid Cuba of corruption. I will even go further: to some extent it is as though Batista was the incarnation of a number of sins on the part of the United States. Now we shall have to pay for those sins. In the matter of the Batista regime, I am in agreement with the first Cuban revolutionaries. That is perfectly clear.|[[John F. Kennedy|U.S. President John F. Kennedy]], to [[Jean Daniel]], October 24, 1963.<ref>New Republic, 14 Dec. 1963, Jean Daniel "Unofficial Envoy: An Historic Report from Two Capitals," p. 16</ref>}}

On July 26, 1953, just over a year after Batista's second coup, a small group of revolutionaries attacked the [[Moncada Barracks]] in [[Santiago de Cuba|Santiago]]. Government forces easily defeated the assault and jailed its leaders, while many others fled the country. The primary leader of the attack, [[Fidel Castro]], was a young attorney who had run for parliament in the canceled 1952 elections. Although Castro was never officially nominated, he felt that Batista's coup had sidetracked what would have been a promising political career for him.<ref>{{cite book|last=Walsh|first=Daniel C.|title=An Air War with Cuba|year=2012|publisher=McFarland|location=North Carolina|isbn=978-0-7864-6506-4|page=5|url=http://www.mcfarlandbooks.com/book-2.php?id=978-0-7864-6506-4|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130128161552/http://www.mcfarlandbooks.com/book-2.php?id=978-0-7864-6506-4|url-status=dead|archive-date=2013-01-28}}</ref> In the wake of the Moncada assault, Batista suspended constitutional guarantees and increasingly relied on police tactics in an attempt to "frighten the population through open displays of brutality."<ref name="PBSBatista"/>

Batista held an [[Cuban general election, 1954|election in 1954]], running as the candidate of a political coalition that included the Progressive Action Party, the Radical Union Party and the Liberal Party.<ref>Fulgencio Batista y Zaldivar. Respuesta: Primera Edición. México, D.F. Impresa Manuel León Sanchez. 1960.</ref>{{page needed|date=June 2020}} The opposition divided into abstentionists and electoralists. The abstentionists favored boycotting the elections regardless of the circumstances in which they were held, whereas the electoralists sought certain rights and guarantees to participate.<ref name="Manuel Marquez-Sterling 2009">Manuel Marquez-Sterling. Cuba 1952–1959: The True Story of Castro's Rise to Power. Wintergreen, Virginia. Kleiopatria Digital Press. 2009.</ref>{{page needed|date=June 2020}} The CIA had predicted that Batista would use any means necessary to ensure he won the election. Batista lived up to their expectations, utilizing fraud and intimidation to secure his presidency. This led most of the other parties to boycott the elections.<ref>{{cite book|author=Paterson, Thomas G.|title=Contesting Castro: The United States and the Triumph of the Cuban Revolution|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1995|isbn=978-0-19-510120-1|page=25|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Vncl-lZq3GcC&pg=PA25}}</ref> Former President [[Ramón Grau San Martín]], leading the electoralist factions of the Cuban Revolutionary Party, participated through the political campaign but withdrew from the campaign days before election day, charging that his supporters had been terrorized.<ref>Antonio Lancis Sanchez. El proceso electoral de 1954. Havana, Cuba. Ediciones Lex. 1955.</ref>{{page needed|date=June 2020}} Thus Batista was elected president with the support of 45.6% of registered voters. Despite the boycott, Grau received the support of 6.8% of those who voted. The remaining voters abstained.<ref>Mario Riero Hernandez. Cuba Politica. La Habana, Cuba. 1955.</ref>{{page needed|date=June 2020}}

By late 1955, student riots and anti-Batista demonstrations had become frequent, and unemployment became a problem as graduates entering the workforce could not find jobs.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Cuban communism|page=662|last=Horowitz|first=Irving Louis|author-link=Irving Louis Horowitz|publisher=Transaction Books|location=New Brunswick, N.J.|year=1988|isbn=978-0-88738-672-5|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hx2_y7Vu-PUC&pg=PA463}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Thomas|first=Hugh|title=Cuba; the Pursuit of Freedom|date=March 1971|publisher=Harper & Row|location=New York|isbn=978-0-06-014259-9|page=[https://archive.org/details/trent_0116404995262/page/1173 1173]|url=https://archive.org/details/trent_0116404995262/page/1173}}</ref> These were dealt with through increasing repression. All youth were seen as suspected revolutionaries.<ref name="ILAshapiro" /> Due to its continued opposition to Batista and the large amount of revolutionary activity taking place on its campus, the University of Havana was temporarily closed on November 30, 1956 (it did not reopen until 1959 under the first revolutionary government). On March 13, 1957, student leader José Antonio Echeverría was killed by police outside [[Radio Reloj]] in Havana after announcing that Batista had been killed in a student attack on the Presidential Palace. In reality, Batista survived, and the students of the Federation of University Students (FEU) and the [[Directorio Revolucionario 13 de Marzo|Directorio Revolucionario]] (DR) who led the attack were killed in the response by the military and police. Castro quickly condemned the attack, since July 26 Movement had not participated in it.<ref name="Cuba 1963">''Historia de Cuba: Desde Colon hasta Castro''. Carlos Márquez Sterling. Miami, Florida. 1963.</ref>{{page needed|date=June 2020}}

[[File:BatistaMarch1957.jpg|thumb|260px|right|Batista in March 1957, standing next to a map of the [[Sierra Maestra]] mountains where [[Fidel Castro]]'s rebels were based]]

In April 1956, Batista called popular military leader Col. [[Ramón Barquín]] back to Cuba from his post as military attaché to the United States. Believing Barquín would support his rule, Batista promoted him to General.<ref name="WP">{{cite news |first=Patricia |last=Sullivan |title=Ramón M. Barquín, 93; Led Failed '56 Coup in Cuba |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/05/AR2008030503300.html|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |date=March 6, 2008 |access-date=March 31, 2008}}</ref> However, Barquín's ''Conspiración de los Puros'' (Conspiracy of the Pure) was already underway and had already progressed too far. On April 6, 1956, Barquín led hundreds of career officers in a coup attempt, but was frustrated by Lieutenant Ríos Morejón, who betrayed the plan. Barquín was sentenced to solitary confinement for eight years on the [[Isla de la Juventud|Isle of Pines]], while some officers were sentenced to death for treason.<ref name="WP" /> Many others were allowed to remain in the military without reprimand.<ref name="Gabriel E. Taborda 2009">Francisco Tabernilla Palmero and Gabriel E. Taborda. ''Palabras esperadas: Memorias de Francisco H. Tabernilla Palmero''. Ediciones Universales. Miami, Florida. 2009.</ref>{{page needed|date=June 2020}}

The purge of the officer corps contributed to the inability of the Cuban army to successfully combat Castro and his guerrillas.<ref name="WP" /><ref>{{cite news |first=Anthony |last=DePalma|title=Ramón Barquín, Cuban Colonel, Dies at 93 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/06/world/americas/06barquin.html?_r=1&em&ex=1204952400&en=fad514edbfcebfa1&ei=5087%0A&oref=slogin|work=[[The New York Times]] |date=March 6, 2008 |access-date=March 31, 2008}}</ref> Batista's police responded to increasing popular unrest by torturing and killing young men in the cities. However, his army was ineffective against the rebels based in the [[Sierra Maestra]] and [[Escambray Mountains]].<ref name="PBSBatista"/> Another possible explanation for the failure to crush the rebellion was offered by author [[Carlos Alberto Montaner]]: "Batista does not finish Fidel out of greed&nbsp;... His is a government of thieves. To have this small guerrilla band in the mountains is to his advantage, so that he can order special defense expenditures that they can steal."<ref name="PBSBatista"/> Batista's rule became increasingly unpopular among the population, and the Soviet Union began to secretly support Castro.<ref name="wickham-crowley">{{cite book|title=Guerrillas and revolution in Latin America|author=Timothy P. Wickham-Crowley|page=189}}</ref> Some of Batista's generals also criticized him in later years, saying that Batista's excessive interference in his generals' military plans to defeat the rebels hampered Army morale and rendered all operations ineffective.<ref name="Gabriel E. Taborda 2009"/>

{{blockquote|It is clear that counter-terror became the strategy of the Batista government. It has been estimated that perhaps as many as 20,000 civilians were killed.<ref name = "Commission">''Violence in America: Historical and Comparative Perspectives – A Report to the National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence Volume 2'', U.S. Government Printing Office, 1969, p. 582.</ref>}}

[[File:BatistaFireSquad.jpg|thumb|300px|left|Batista's soldiers executing a rebel by firing squad in 1956]]

In an effort to gather information about Castro's army, Batista's secret police pulled in people for questioning. Many innocent people were tortured by Batista's secret police, while suspects, including youth, were publicly executed as a warning to others who were considering joining the insurgency. Additionally, "Hundreds of mangled bodies were left hanging from lamp posts or dumped in the streets in a grotesque variation of the Spanish colonial practice of public executions."<ref name="ILAshapiro">''Invisible Latin America'', by Samuel Shapiro, Ayer Publishing, 1963, {{ISBN|0-8369-2521-1}}, p. 77.</ref> The brutal behavior backfired and increased support for the guerrillas. In 1958, 45 organizations signed an open letter supporting July 26 Movement, among them national bodies representing lawyers, architects, dentists, accountants, and social workers.

The United States supplied Batista with planes, ships, tanks and the latest technology, such as [[napalm]], which he used against the insurgency. However, in March 1958, the U.S. announced it would stop selling arms to the Cuban government.<ref>''Ernesto "Che" Guevara (World Leaders Past & Present)'', by Douglas Kellner, 1989, Chelsea House Publishers, {{ISBN|1-55546-835-7}}, p. 45.</ref> Soon after, the U.S. imposed an arms embargo, further weakening the government's position,<ref name="Louis A. Pérez">{{cite book |author=Louis A. Pérez |title=Cuba and the United States |pages=236–237}}</ref> although landowners and others who benefited from the government continued to support Batista.<ref name="Jorge I. Domínguez 90"/>

Elections were scheduled for June 1958, as required by the Constitution, but were delayed until November 1958, when Castro and the revolutionaries called for a general strike and placed several bombs in civilian areas of the country. Three main candidates ran in the elections: [[Carlos Márquez Sterling]] of the Party of the Free People, former President Ramón Grau San Martín of the Cuban Revolutionary Party-Authentic, and [[Andrés Rivero Agüero]] of the government coalition. According to Carlos Márquez Sterling, all three were threatened by Castro, and several assassination attempts were made on both Ramón Grau San Martín and Carlos Márquez Sterling. On Election Day, estimates on the turnout range from 30 to 50% in the areas where voting took place, which did not include parts of [[Las Villas (Cuba)|Las Villas]] and [[Oriente Province|Oriente]], which were controlled by Castro.<ref name="Carlos Márquez Sterling 2005">Carlos Márquez Sterling. Memorias de un estadista. Ediciones Universales. Miami, Florida. 2005.</ref>{{page needed|date=June 2020}} Márquez Sterling also stated that the initial results were favorable to him, but the military ordered the counting to stop as they changed the actual ballots for fraudulent ones.<ref name="Carlos Márquez Sterling 2005"/> However, Grau San Martín, as he had previously done in the [[Cuban general election, 1954|1954 elections]], withdrew his candidacy within a few hours of the election day. Batista declared Rivero Agüero the winner.

The U.S. rejected the results of the elections and announced plans to withhold diplomatic recognition of the Rivero Agüero government.<ref name="Louis A. Pérez" /> The American ambassador to Cuba [[Earl E.T. Smith|Earl Smith]] informed Agüero that the United States would not give aid and support to his government.<ref name="Louis A. Pérez" /> Smith also informed Batista that the U.S. believed him incapable of maintaining effective control and that he should retire.<ref name="Louis A. Pérez" />

Throughout December 1958, in the leadup to the [[Battle of Santa Clara]], top military commanders began plotting the removal of Batista. On December 24, General [[Eulogio Cantillo]] secretly met with Fidel Castro and agreed to arrest Batista.<ref>{{cite book |last= |first= |author-link= |date=1965 |title=United States Army Combat Forces Journal Volume 15, Part 2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Jz5EAQAAIAAJ&dq=cantillo+january+1959&pg=RA6-PA70 |location= |publisher=Association of the United States Army |page=70 |isbn=}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Gill |author-link= |date=2005 |title=Immortal Heroes Of The World
 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6mE7kk7MoBsC&dq=cantillo+coup+january+1959&pg=PA150 |location= |publisher=Sarup and Sons |page=150 |isbn=9788176255905}}</ref> Cantillo also agreed that his new government would merge with the [[26th of July Movement]] to create a new united government.<ref>{{cite book |last=Ross Leal |first=Pedro |author-link= |date=2022 |title=How the Workers' Parliaments Saved the Cuban Revolution Reviving Socialism After the Collapse of the Soviet Union |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K35nEAAAQBAJ&dq=cantillo+coup+january+1959&pg=PT78 |location= |publisher=Monthly Review Press |page= |isbn=9781583679807}}</ref>

On December 30, 1958, Cantillo notified Castro that coup plans had changed. Cantillo privately advised Batista that he should flee the country.<ref>{{cite book |last=Coltman |first=Leycester |author-link= |date=2003 |title=The Real Fidel Castro |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=esRje8Jo3LMC&dq=cantillo+arrest+batista&pg=PA137 |location= |publisher=Yale University Press |page=137 |isbn=9780300133394}}</ref> Around midnight on January 1, 1959, during the [[Triumph of the Revolution]], Batista, realizing that his presidency could not continue, informed his cabinet and top officials at [[Camp Columbia (Havana)|Camp Columbia]], the Havana headquarters of the [[Cuban Constitutional Army]], that he was resigning and would leave the country.<ref>[https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0101.html]</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Faget: 'Spy' talk was only business |url=https://www.latinamericanstudies.org/espionage/talk.htm |access-date=2024-09-24 |website=www.latinamericanstudies.org}}</ref> At about 3:00&nbsp;a.m., Batista boarded a plane in the Camp Columbia airfield with 40 of his supporters and immediate family members<ref>''Cuba'', Hugh Thomas, {{ISBN|0-330-48487-7}}, p. 687.</ref><ref>Audio: [https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=98921086 Recalling Castro's Ascension – And CIA Reaction] by Tom Gjelten, ''NPR Morning Edition'', January 1, 2009.</ref> and flew to [[Ciudad Trujillo]] in the Dominican Republic. A second plane flew out of Havana later in the night, carrying ministers, officers, and the Governor of Havana, and a third plane followed. Batista took along a personal fortune of more than $300&nbsp;million that he had amassed through bribery and corruption.<ref>Alarcón, Ricardo. "The Long March of the Cuban Revolution." Monthly Review 60, no. 8 (January 1, 2009): 24. {{doi|10.14452/mr-060-08-2009-01_2}}.</ref> Critics accused Batista and his supporters of taking as much as $700&nbsp;million in fine art and cash with them as they fled into exile.<ref name="pbp" /><ref name="upi"/><ref>{{cite news | title=Batista Will and $3,270,000 Reported Found | work=The News Tribune | date=January 25, 1959 | agency=[[Associated Press]] | location=Fort Pierce, FL |page=11}}</ref>

As news of the fall of Batista's government spread through Havana, ''The New York Times'' described jubilant crowds pouring into the streets and automobile horns honking. The black and red flag of the July 26 Movement waved on cars and buildings. The atmosphere was chaotic. On January 8, 1959, Castro and his army rolled victoriously into Havana.<ref name="Castro: The Great Survivor">{{cite news |date= October 2000 | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/244974.stm | title = Castro: The Great Survivor |work=BBC News | access-date = May 15, 2006}}</ref> Already denied entry to the United States, Batista sought asylum in Mexico, which also refused him.<!--when was this?--> Portugal's leader [[António de Oliveira Salazar|António Salazar]] allowed him to settle there on the condition that he completely abstain from politics.<ref>Horowitz, Irving Louis & Suchlicki, Jaime, ''Cuban Communism: 1959–2003'', New Jersey, Transaction Publishers, 11th ed., 2003, p. 34.</ref>

Historians and primary documents estimate between hundreds and 20,000 Cubans were killed under the Batista regime.<ref name="Guerra, Lillian 2012 p. 42">Guerra, Lillian (2012). Visions of Power in Cuba: Revolution, Redemption, and Resistance, 1959–1971. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. p. 42 "The likely total was probably closer to three to four thousand."</ref><ref name="Wickham-Crowley, Timothy P. 1990 P. 63"/><ref name="Invisible">''Invisible Latin America'', by Samuel Shapiro, Ayer Publishing, 1963, {{ISBN|0-8369-2521-1}}, p. 77. "All told, Batista's second dictatorship cost the Cuban people some 20,000 dead"</ref><ref name="WGuide">''The World Guide 1997/98: A View from the South'', by University of Texas, 1997, {{ISBN|1-869847-43-1}}, p. 209. "Batista engineered yet another coup, establishing a dictatorial regime, which was responsible for the death of 20,000 Cubans."</ref><ref name="ThirdW">''The Third World in Perspective'', by H.A. Reitsma & J.M.G. Kleinpenning, {{ISBN|0-8476-7450-9}}, p. 344. "Under Batista at least 20,000 people were put to death."</ref><ref name="FidelUntold3">''[[Fidel: The Untold Story]]''. (2001). Directed by Estela Bravo. [[First Run Features]]. (91 min). [https://www.youtube.com/embed/NW1Yh8D-xCg Viewable clip]. "An estimated 20,000 people were murdered by government forces during the Batista dictatorship."</ref><ref>''Conflict, Order, and Peace in the Americas'', by the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, 1978, p. 121. "The US-supported Batista regime killed 20,000 Cubans".</ref>

However, the 20,000 number is disputed by several historians, which considered it as ‘propaganda’. According to French historian Jeannine Verdès-Leroux:

{{blockquote|[...] Intellectuals and journalists have endlessly hammered home the falsified figure of 20,000 deaths. Castro only spoke, in his report to the 1st Congress of the Cuban Communist Party, of an “incalculable” number of victims. Specialists agree to conclude that the figure of 2,000 deaths is a high maximum.<ref name="VL" />}}