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12/26/2012 3 Comments Could it be that the communists helped reinstall Bastista as president of Cuba in 1952?CubaTHERE IS EVIDENCE that Batista had communist backing when he returned to Cuba in 1952. If so, how was Batista the darling of the Americans? Throughout the Cold War Era, Latin American dictators easily solicited help from the United States simply by alleging that communists were lurking in their banana plantations. The Marines would land only days ahead of massive foreign aide for the tyrant. As unlikely as it sounds, that policy may not have applied in Cuba, at least not until Castro took over. Had the Cuban president who replaced Batista in 1944, Grau San Martín, and his successor, Carlos Prío Socarrás, satisfied the revolutionary promises of 1933 and the reformist plan of the 1940 constitution, Cuba might have avoided the strife of Castro's rebellion in the 1950's. Grau committed his administration to industrialization, debt reduction, and agricultural diversification, but every plan failed. So long as America dominated the island's economy, Cuba would never be for Cubans. To make matters worse, Grau and his ministers began misappropriating public funds just as every administration before them.
When Grau turned over the presidency to Prío in 1948, the Cuban revolutionary movement had no substance. It soon became apparent to Cubans that Grau's Auténtico party didn't represent the authentic spirit of the 1933 revolution any more than Batista had. Prío did sponsor a national bank, promote crop diversification, and encourage low-cost housing, but these hardly touched the major issues of land redistribution and the power of foreign investment. In 1950, Cuba was still an economic colony. Only Bolivia and Haiti had a more prolonged period of economic stagnation. Most of the sugar plantations remained in the hands of foreign investors who sent their product to industrialized nations at great profits, profits that never made their way back to the island. In 1950, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development surveyed the Cuban economy and concluded that sugar dominated the island more than ever. The IBRD pointed to diversification as the answer. They based their findings on Cuba's favorable geography, fertile soil, mineral resources, and, most importantly, its proximity to the American market. Although Batista did not enjoy popular support, he was able to return to the Presidential Palace via another barracks coup on March 10, 1952. The military, supported by the labor unions, facilitated a lightning-like strike that restored Batista with the loss of just two lives. Everything was well timed and executed. The police headquarters were seized as the military converged on the presidential palace, and a prepared address was read over Havana radio while union leaders rallied the workers to Batista's banner. Batista was so confident that he didn't even bother to have a plane at his disposal to escape should something have gone wrong. Obviously, Batista had maintained close relationships with the army officers who had helped win his earlier coup in 1930. However, it also appears that he may have had the appreciation of communist leaders whose party Batista had legitimized while he was president. Probably, of even greater importance, Batista had the financial backing of American businessmen and gangsters who never lost faith that he alone could restore stability in Cuban government and protect their interests and didn't care one wit about the communists.
3 Comments
12/27/2012 12:55:13 am
When I grew up, we were told time and again that the dirty little commies were behind everything bad in the world. Even smoking and drinking and wild, wild women were a communist plot.
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Jack Durish
12/27/2012 12:59:40 am
I don't know about smoking and drinking but, if you watch Dancing With The Stars, you'll see plenty of evidence that the "wild women" (at least the really sexy ones) come from Russia.
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3/25/2013 09:36:15 pm
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