Cuba & Batista, 1952-59
Few Americans knew or cared that Senator and General and ex-President
Fulgencio
Batista y Zaldívar overthrew the government of Dr. Carlos Prío
Socarrás in two hours on March 10, 1952. Time magazine, the newsweekly, even
showed him on its cover on April 9, 1952 but only a small minority of people
in the United States read Time. Cuba was that shark-shaped island off the
Florida coast where tourists went to see the sites, gamble, drink, sun bathe,
and whore. It was the source of sugar, rum, fine cigars, "Latin" music, and
Ricky Ricardo, the husband and bandleader on the "I Love Lucy" television
show. Those a little more knowledgeable knew that US gangsters had used it as
a base and a resort since the 1930s when things got too hot for them in the
United States. Others knew of its propensity for violence, both public and
private. Its university students demonstrated against the government, beat
and killed their opponents while their US counterparts exacted their revenge
on their enemies through intercollegiate football games. Students had no
monopoly on the use of violence; older Cubans could be quite ferocious with
each other as well. Most Americans, who were "white," saw all this disorder
as being typical of "lesser breeds;" intuitively, at least, they understood
that most Cubans were not "white," being, instead, a mixture of European,
African, Amerind, and other groups. They probably did not know that Batista
himself was a mixture of Africans, Amerind, Chinese, and European. What they
did know was that Cuba had had another revolution (actually a coup d'état but
few people understood the distinction), something they believed was chronic in
Latin American countries.
In some ways, they were right, for Batista was a strong man who had ruled
Cuba between 1933-1944 and was so powerful that he could easily overthrow the
government in a matter of hours and hold it even though he suffered an
outbreak of chicken pox for a few days. Even though that government was
corrupt and ineffectual, its overthrow was phenomenal. Many were disgusted
with the government of Prío Socarrás and disliked his abortive attempt to
change the constitution so he could get re-elected. The true reformers, the
Ortodoxos, had lost their champion when Senator Eduardo Chibás committed
suicide on his radio show in 1951. The Auténticos of Prío Socarrás were
worse. Young Cubans, such as Fidel Castro
Ruz, an Ortodoxo, had hoped their
parry would gain power and reform the government and country. Young army
officers encouraged Senator Batista to act. Few complained when he did. The
conservative President Dwight D. Eisenhower recognized the Batista government
on March 27, 1952, clearly that it was not as much interested in democracy as having a
docile, pro-American government.
Batista suspended the constitution; replaced Congress with an 80-man
consultative council; and dissolved all political parties. He pampered the
army and the police, understanding that they would be critical to saying in
power. He used Urgency Courts to expedite the trials of those who opposed him.
He curried the favor of labor with wage hikes while banning strikes. Freedom
of expression was not seriously curtailed and students rioted frequently.
Political leaders issued manifestos.
Cuba was prosperous under Batista. He adopted a sugar stabilization
plan in 1952 which reduced production from seven million down to five million
tons. Overproduction was a problem for all sugar-producing countries. He
managed to offset some of the lost income with more industrial plants and the
growth of tourism. US citizens, in particular, were using post-WWII prosperity
to travel. He launched numerous public works, which, by their very nature,
provided money to a host of people across the economic spectrum.
Prosperity was uneven. For the sugar cane working who was unemployed
half the year and discouraged from finding other employment so as to be
available when the plantation owner needed him, life did not improve. Even
though Cuba had the fourth highest standard of living in Latin America, that
was not high. Besides, Cubans compared themselves to the US not Honduras or
Bolivia. Illiteracy was high; schools too few; affordable medical care almost
impossible for the average person to get; and housing substandard. Rural areas
suffered more than urban areas because Cuban presidents had always feared the
cities more. In short, social justice was a victim of the Batista years.
Opposition to Batista came from a variety of sources. Old line
politicians wanted him out so they could return to power. Prío Socarrás
financed guns, bribes, and anti-Batista propaganda. Students and other young
people demonstrated against him and plotted his overthrow. On July 26, 1953, a
group of young people attacked the Moncada Barracks near Santiago de Cuba.
They failed and were arrested. At his trial, the leader, twenty-six-year-old
Fidel Castro Ruz, was sentenced to fifteen years in prison. At his trial,
however, the young man who had attended law school, spoke at length about
Cuban injustices and the need to restore the 1940 Constitution. He asserted
that the Cuban people would not support a dictator. The “History Will Absolve Me”
speech caught the public
imagination and made him a martyr. The myth grew. Batista, for his part,
declared a 90-day siege and clamped down on civil liberties.
By the beginning of 1954, the crisis was over. He lifted the state of
siege. Business boomed. The US government arrested Prío Socarrás for gun
running and fined him. Batista ran for President on his Progressive Action
Party ticket against former President Ramon Grau San Martin. Grau San Martin
withdrew before the voting; he saw it was useless. Batista, basking in
victory, declared a general amnesty in May, letting political prisoners out of
jail. Castro was one of them; he and a few friends went to Mexico City to plot
revolution. Prío Socarrás came back to Cuba. The press was almost entirely
free. The country was calm except for a mass meeting in the Fall of 1955.
Commerce and tourism flourished. Most of the prosperity favored Cubans. The
Batista regime grew self-satisfied. It could not imagine any serious
opposition would occur. It officials and cronies, the army, and the police
went about their duties haphazardly and stole more.
In December, 1956, Fidel Castro and eighty-one others landed in Cuba
from Mexico on the boat, the Granma. They thought that their arrival
would spark uprisings all over the island against Batista. They were wrong.
Batista’s government knew they were coming and managed to capture all but
twelve of them. Castro, his brother Raul, the Argentine radical Ernesto “Che”
Guevara, and nine others managed to escape into the Sierra Maestra mountains.
The Batista government announced that Fidel was dead and then went about its
business.
Fidel was alive and the 26th of July Movement was
growing. He had a radio broadcaster with which to send message throughout the
island and a printing press. He had money and guns supplied by sympathizers and
confederates throughout the island. Fidel was smart, smarter than his
opponents, and a masterful propagandist. No one could seriously doubt that he
was alive. He flooded Cuba with propaganda depicting himself and his followers
as wanting to restore democracy and improve the lives of the average Cuban
against the corrupt, dictatorial Batista regime which, he said, was only
interested in the rich and powerful, including the US. The Castroites began
bombing school and cinemas to show that the Batista regime could not protect
people. In March, 1957, they led a mass attack on the presidential palace and
almost found and killed him. He became cautious about appearing in public.
Castro's forces began burning sugar fields. Although they failed
at times, they succeeded more often than not. All they had to do to
discredit the government was prove that it could not perform its primary
function--protection of life and property. By January 7, 1957, Time
magazine was reporting that the Batista government could not cope.
The anti-Batista forces were more than just Fidel
Castro and his group. Student turbulence became so common that Batista shout
down the national university and high schools. The Catholic Church and labor
leaders proclaimed their neutrality. Middle class businessmen quietly
withdrew support. As Batista imposed censorship and increased suppression, he
lost support. He sent much of his army into Oriente province, Castro's home,
but his soldiers could get to Castro's men in the Sierra Maestra mountains. Soldiers
sold their weapons to Castro (they were ill paid) or defected. From the US,
mostly, anti-Batista forces sent weapons. Exiles returned to participate.
The year 1958 was worse for Batista. His regime had lost its
moral authority. The sugar harvest, the zafra, was held early to keep Castro
from burning the fields. Sabotage increased. The police responded with
beatings, brutality, and mass jailings. Castro, who was portraying himself as a
folk hero who personified the hope of the common man, stepped up his propaganda
efforts. Cleverly, he refused to work with other anti-Batista groups; he wanted
to claim sole credit for bringing Batista down. By the Spring of 1958,
riding busses and trains in Cuba was unsafe because the attacks were so
frequent. Bombings closed most public schools. Soldiers and public
officials feared assassination. Tourism dropped drastically as fear increased.
In April, it appeared that Castro had failed. He called for
a general strike--a massive work stoppage throughout the island but it failed.
Many anti-Batista groups, including the Communist, who had turned against their
benefactor, refused to support it. Although the US canceled arms shipments to
the government, Batista's 40,000 man army was loyal. So, too, were labor
leaders. He ignored the call of Catholic bishops for him to compromise with
Castro (who would not have agreed anyway). Confident that the opposition was no
longer a threat, he scheduled presidential elections for November, 1958. He
would run Andrés Riva Agüero against Ramón Grau San Martín of the
Auténticos and Carlos Márquez Sterling of the Ortodoxos. Andrés Riva Agüero
would win by a landslide, of course; Batista could not afford to have an honest
election.
Castro and the other anti-Batista forces had not been
beaten, however. Castro threatened death to the candidates and promised terror
to the voters. His people kidnapped US businessmen and sailors. The rural
population continued to withdraw support from Batista and give it to Castro.
The business and professional class deserted Batista followed by urban workers.
The dictator had lost the support of the US which would not intervene. The US
was waiting for the end of Batista's term in February, 1959, in hopes that a
free government would be created. Only his army and police kept him in power.
When Castro and his forces swept down from the mountains,
Batista's army surrendered or deserted. Cuban soldiers knew that Batista could
not survive. In December, the dictator began flying his family out of the
country. Some arrived in Jacksonville, Florida and were cursed at the airport.
Batista left Cuba on December 31, 1958. Castro's victory was not military but
psychological.
On January 2, 1959, Castro's 26th of July movement's men marched into the
capital . They were bearded and wore camouflage uniforms. Even in victory,
Castro was a master propagandist.
Don Mabry
122203
