President Fulgencio Batista OOAK B/W Photograph By Writer Joseph H. Wherry for Sale

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President Fulgencio Batista OOAK B/W Photograph By Writer Joseph H. Wherry For Sale

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President Fulgencio Batista OOAK B/W Photograph By Writer Joseph H. Wherry:
$35.00

President Fulgencio Batista

OOAK One Of A Kind

8” x 10” B/W Photograph

By Writer Joe H. Wherry.

President Batista granted the writer courtesy of long visit. It was during this that I met his Chief of Security Police who would not be photographed.

Fulgencio Batista

Fulgencio Batista y Zaldívar born Rubén Zaldívar; January 16, 1901 – August 6, 1973) was a Cuban military officer and politician who served as the elected president of Cuba from 1940 to 1944 and as its U.S.-backed military dictator from 1952 to 1959, until he was overthrown in the Cuban Revolution.

Fulgencio Batista

President of Cuba

In office March 10, 1952 – January 1, 1959

Prime Minister

Himself Andrés Domingo Jorge García Montes Andrés Rivero AgüeroEmilio Núñez PortuondoGonzalo Güell

Vice President

Rafael Guas Inclán

Preceded by

Carlos Prío Socarrás

Succeeded by

Anselmo Alliegro

In office

October 10, 1940 – October 10, 1944

Prime Minister

Carlos Saladrigas ZayasRamón ZaydínAnselmo Alliegro

Vice President

Gustavo Cuervo Rubio

Preceded by

Federico Laredo Brú

Succeeded by

Ramón Grau

Prime Minister of Cuba

In office

10 March 1952 – 4 April by

Óscar Gans

Succeeded by

Vacant

(1952 – 1955)

Jorge García Montes

(1955 – 1957)

Cuban Senator

In office June 2, 1948 – March 10, 1952

Constituency

Las Villas

Personal details

Born Rubén Zaldívar

January 16, 1901

Banes, Cuba

Died August 6, 1973 (aged 72)

Marbella, Málaga, Spain

Resting place Saint Isidore Cemetery

Political party

Democratic Socialist Coalition (1939–1944)

Liberal Party of Cuba (1948–1949)

Unitary Action Party (1949–1952)

Progressive Action Party Godínez Gómez

(m. 1926; div. 1946)

Marta Fernandez Miranda

(m. 1946)

Children 9

Other names

Fulgencio Batista y Zaldívar (full name from 1939)

Military service

Allegiance

Cuba Cuba

Branch/service

Cuban Army

Years of service 1921–1940

Rank Major General

Batista initially rose to power as part of the 1933 Revolt of the Sergeants, which overthrew the provisional government of Carlos Manuel de Céspedes y Quesada. Batista then appointed himself chief of the armed forces, with the rank of colonel, and effectively controlled the five-member "pentarchy" that functioned as the collective head of state. He maintained control through a string of puppet presidents until 1940, when he was elected president on a populist platform. He then instated the 1940 Constitution of Cuba and served until 1944. After finishing his term, Batista moved to Florida, returning to Cuba to run for president in 1952. Facing certain electoral defeat, he led a military coup against President Carlos Prío Socarrás that pre-empted the election.

Back in power and receiving financial, military and logistical support from the United States government, Batista suspended the 1940 Constitution and revoked most political liberties, including the right to strike. He then aligned with the wealthiest landowners who owned the largest sugar plantations, and presided over a stagnating economy that widened the gap between rich and poor Cubans. Eventually it reached the point where most of the sugar industry was in U.S. hands, and foreigners owned 70% of the arable land. As such, Batista's repressive government then began to systematically profit from the exploitation of Cuba's commercial interests, by negotiating lucrative relationships both with the American Mafia, who controlled the drug, gambling, and prostitution businesses in Havana, and with large U.S.-based multinational companies who were awarded lucrative contracts. To quell the growing discontent amongst the populace—which was subsequently displayed through frequent student riots and demonstrations—Batista established tighter censorship of the media, while also utilizing his Bureau for the Repression of Communist Activities secret police to carry out wide-scale violence, torture and public executions. These murders mounted in 1957, as socialist ideas became more influential. Many people were killed, with estimates ranging from hundreds to about 20,000 people killed.

These tactics ultimately failed to quell unrest and instead were the catalyst for more widespread resistance. For two years (December 1956 – December 1958) Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement and other rebelling elements led an urban- and rural-based guerrilla uprising against Batista's government, which culminated in his eventual defeat by rebels under the command of Che Guevara at the Battle of Santa Clara on New Year's Day 1959. Batista immediately fled the island with an amassed personal fortune to the Dominican Republic, where strongman and previous military ally Rafael Trujillo held power. Batista eventually found political asylum in António Salazar's Portugal, where he first lived on the island of Madeira and then in Estoril. He was involved in business activities in Spain and was staying there in Guadalmina at the time of his death from a heart attack on August 6, 1973