Fulgencio Batista (Fulgencio Batista y Zaldívar) was a soldier and right-wing political leader who ruled Cuba twice; first in 1933-44 and again in 1952-59. He ruled as a dictator, and was known for using terrorist methods. Having been in the army, Batista joined a military coup against the liberal President Machado, in September 1933. The US ambassador at the time, Benjamin Welles, heavily expressed his support for Batista by stating that Cuban internal affairs were not to be hindered by American interference; they then proceeded to recognise the new government of Cuba on the 19th January 1934.
Batista was an extremely unpredictable man who could be callous with his opponents. This was clearly shown when he ordered the murder of his opponents, such as Antonio Guitaras who was a vocal challenger, but he also oddly allowed the formation of rival political parties. A few years later in 1939, in a somewhat democratic election, Batista was voted into power as the President of Cuba. He spent his term being supported by the United States, and at the end of his four years, in 1944, introduced war taxes to help pay for the war effort. This created huge resentment, which led to Batista exiling himself to the Dominican Republic, and then moving to Florida. For the next four years he attempted to gain support to re-join Cuban politics, eventually succeeding in 1948, winning a seat in the Cuban Senate.
Humiliation began to overwhelm Batista when the polls predicted a failure, and led a military coup, with a successful outcome on the 10th March 1952. At this point, Batista established himself as General and conceived his one-party dictatorship. Batista’s rule was full of oppression; the population who were already rich continued to prosper, as long as they kept Batista satisfied. Batista’s obsession with the United States continued, as rich Americans would enjoy their privileged lives by going to Havana to gamble, leaving the majority of Cuban’s population in severe poverty.
When Batista first came into power, Cuba was a surprisingly prosperous country in Latin America, being of the most developed countries in the region at the time. Its GDP was roughly equal to the one of Italy’s, despite being a sixth of the one of the United States. Throughout Batista’s rule, corruption and inequality thrived. On average, a Cuban family had $6.00 income a week, 15 to 20% of the labour force was unemployed and a third of homes had running water. Throughout the 1950s, Cuba became full of gambling, prostitution and drug profits for corrupt law-enforcement officials. All was ,of course, encouraged by Batista. He made long lasting relationships with the American Mafia, his most notorious one being with Meyer Lansky, where Batista gave the Mafia control of racetracks and casinos.
Cuban support for Fidel Castro began to grow in the 1950s as corruption, greed, and brutality continued to grow, along with his charisma and dedication to revolt against the Batista Regime. The United States’ realisation of the severity of the situation led to their slow withdrawal, and Fidel continued to plan his revolution against the corrupt Batista Regime.
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