View source for Fulgencio Batista

==Military coup and dictatorship (1952–1959)==
[[File:HavanaSlums1954.jpg|thumb|[[Slum]] (''bohio'') dwellings in Havana, Cuba, in 1954, just outside Havana baseball stadium. In the background is advertising for a nearby casino.]]
In 1952, Batista again ran for president. In a three-way race, [[Roberto Agramonte]] of the [[Partido Ortodoxo|Orthodox Party]] led in all the polls, followed by [[Carlos Hevia]] of the [[Partido Auténtico|Authentic Party]]. Batista's United Action coalition was running a distant third.<ref name="morales1">{{cite book|last1=Morales Dominguez|first1=Esteban|last2=Prevost|first2=Gary|title=United States-Cuban Relations: A Critical History|date=2008|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=978-0739124437|page=34|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MZ0asyoKC08C&q=cuba+1952+election+united+action+coalition|access-date=November 30, 2016}}</ref><ref name="ucsd1">{{cite web|title=Cuba: Elections and Events 1952-1959|url=http://libraries.ucsd.edu/collections/about/collections-of-distinction/latin-american-elections-statistics/cuba/elections-and-events-19521959.html|website=Collections of Distinction: Latin American Elections Statistics|publisher=The Library, UC San Diego|access-date=November 30, 2016}}</ref>

On March 10, 1952, three months before the elections, Batista, with army backing, [[1952 Cuban coup d'état|staged a coup and seized power]]. He ousted outgoing President [[Carlos Prío Socarrás]], canceled the elections and took control of the government as a provisional president. The United States recognized his government on March 27.<ref>This date is given in many sources although there is none that seemed to be clearly definitive. The closest is a recommendation from US Secretary of State [[Dean Acheson]] to President Truman on March 24 recommending recognition on that date: {{cite web|last1=Acheson|first1=Dean|title=Continuation of Diplomatic Relations with Cuba|url=https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1952-54v04/d327|website=Office of the Historian of the United States Department of State|publisher=United States Department of State|access-date=March 9, 2017|date=March 24, 1952}}</ref> When asked by the U.S. government to analyze Batista's Cuba, [[Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.]] said:

<blockquote>The corruption of the Government, the brutality of the police, the government's indifference to the needs of the people for education, medical care, housing, for social justice and economic justice&nbsp;... is an open invitation to revolution.<ref>''The Dynamics of World Power: A Documentary History of the United States Foreign Policy 1945–1973'', by [[Arthur Meier Schlesinger]], 1973, McGraw-Hill, {{ISBN|0070797293}}, p. 512.</ref></blockquote>

===Economy of Cuba===
Upon his seizure of power, Batista inherited a country that was relatively prosperous for Latin America. According to Batista's government, although a third of Cubans still lived in poverty, Cuba was one of the five most developed countries in the region.<ref name="heroic">{{cite news|title=The Cuban revolution at 50: Heroic myth and prosaic failure|date=December 30, 2008|newspaper=The Economist|url=http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12851254}}</ref> In the 1950s, Cuba's [[gross domestic product]] (GDP) per capita was roughly equal to that of Italy at the time, although still only a sixth of that of the United States.<ref name="gonzalez">{{Cite book|title=The Secret Fidel Castro|author=Servando Gonzalez}}</ref> Moreover, although corruption and inequality were rife under Batista, Cuban industrial workers' wages rose significantly. In 1953, the average Cuban family only had an income of $6.00 a week, 15% to 20% of the labor force was chronically unemployed, and only a third of the homes had running water.<ref name = "JFK1960">[http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=25660 Remarks of Senator John F. Kennedy at Democratic Dinner, Cincinnati, Ohio, October 6, 1960] from the ''[[John F. Kennedy Presidential Library]]''.</ref><ref name="gonzalez"/> Despite this, according to the [[International Labour Organization]], the average industrial salary in Cuba became the world's eighth-highest in 1958, and the average agricultural wage was higher than some European nations (although, according to one sample from 1956 to 1957, agricultural workers could only find employment for an average of 123 days per year while farm owners, rural tenants and sharecroppers worked an average of only 135 days per year).<ref>{{cite book |last1=O'Connor |first1=James |title=The Origins of Socialism in Cuba |date=1970 |publisher=Cornell University Press |location=Ithaca |isbn=978-0801405426 |page=58}}</ref> Not like in his first term, where he advocated for [[Corporatism]], he began to advocate for [[Economic liberalism]].

===Relationship with organized crime===
{{blockquote|Brothels flourished. A major industry grew up around them; government officials received bribes, policemen collected protection money. Prostitutes could be seen standing in doorways, strolling the streets, or leaning from windows. One report estimated that 11,500 of them worked their trade in Havana. Beyond the outskirts of the capital, beyond the slot machines, was one of the poorest, and most beautiful countries in the Western world.|David Detzer, American journalist, after visiting Havana in the 1950s.<ref>''The Brink: Cuban Missile Crisis 1962'', by David Detzer, Crowell, 1979, {{ISBN|0690016824}}, p. 17.</ref>}}

Throughout the 1950s, Havana served as "a hedonistic playground for the world's elite", producing sizable gambling, prostitution and drug profits for the [[American mafia]], corrupt law-enforcement officials, and their politically elected [[Cronyism|cronies]].<ref name = "CubanH">[http://www.thecubanhistory.com/2012/05/william-morgan-a-rebel-americano-in-cuba/ William Morgan: A Rebel "Americano" in Cuba] at ''The Cuban History'', May 16, 2012.</ref> In the assessment of the Cuban-American historian Louis Perez, "Havana was then what [[Las Vegas]] has become."<ref name="Smithson"/> Relatedly, it is estimated that by the end of the 1950s the city of Havana had 270 brothels.<ref name="CubaBefore">[http://www.jacobinmag.com/2015/09/cuban-revolution-fidel-castro-casinos-batista/ Cuba Before the Revolution] by [[Samuel Farber]], [[Jacobin (magazine)|''Jacobin Magazine'']], September 6, 2015.</ref> In addition, drugs, be it marijuana or cocaine, were so plentiful at the time that one American magazine in 1950 proclaimed "Narcotics are hardly more difficult to obtain in Cuba than a shot of rum. And only slightly more expensive."<ref name = "CubanH" /> As a result, the playwright [[Arthur Miller]] described Batista's Cuba in ''The Nation'' as "hopelessly corrupt, a Mafia playground, (and) a bordello for Americans and other foreigners."<ref>[https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/visit-castro/ 'A Visit With Castro'] by [[Arthur Miller]], The Nation, 2003</ref>

In a bid to profit from such an environment, Batista established lasting relationships with [[organized crime]], notably with American mobsters [[Meyer Lansky]] and [[Lucky Luciano]], and under his rule Havana became known as "the Latin [[Las Vegas history#1947–1963: postwar boom and organized crime|Las Vegas]]".<ref name="HistCuba">[http://historyofcuba.com/history/funfacts/batist.htm Fulgencio Batista] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130514164321/http://historyofcuba.com/history/funfacts/batist.htm |date=May 14, 2013 }} fun facts by ''History of Cuba''.</ref> Batista and Lansky formed a friendship and business relationship that flourished for a decade. During a stay at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York in the late 1940s, it was mutually agreed that, in return for kickbacks, Batista would give Lansky and the [[American Mafia|Mafia]] control of Havana's racetracks and casinos.<ref>''Havana Nocturne: How the Mob Owned Cuba and Then Lost It to the Revolution'', by [[T.J. English]], William Morrow, 2008, {{ISBN|0-06-114771-0}}, pp. 15, 16, 20</ref> After World War II, Luciano was paroled from prison on the condition that he permanently return to Sicily. Luciano secretly moved to Cuba, where he worked to resume control over American Mafia operations. Luciano also ran a number of casinos in Cuba with the sanction of Batista, though the American government eventually succeeded in pressuring the Batista government to deport him.<ref>''Havana Nocturne: How the Mob Owned Cuba and Then Lost It to the Revolution'', by [[T.J. English]], William Morrow, 2008, {{ISBN|0-06-114771-0}}, pp. 46–47.</ref>

Batista encouraged large-scale gambling in Havana. In 1955, he announced that Cuba would grant a gaming license to anyone who invested US$1&nbsp;million in a hotel or $200,000 in a new nightclub—and that the government would provide matching public funds for construction, a 10-year tax exemption, and waive duties on imported equipment and furnishings for new hotels. Each casino would pay the government $250,000 for the license, plus a percentage of the profits. The policy omitted background checks, as required for casino operations in the United States, which opened the door for casino investors with illegally obtained funds. Cuban contractors with the right connections made windfalls by importing, duty-free, more materials than needed for new hotels and selling the surplus to others. It was rumored that, besides the $250,000 to obtain a license, an additional "under the table" fee was sometimes required.<ref>''Havana Nocturne: How the Mob Owned Cuba and Then Lost It to the Revolution'', by [[T.J. English]], William Morrow, 2008, {{ISBN|0-06-114771-0}}, p. 132.</ref>

Lansky became a prominent figure in Cuba's gambling operations,<ref name="PBSBatista"/> and exerted influence over Batista's casino policies. The Mafia's [[Havana Conference]] was held on December 22, 1946, at the [[Hotel Nacional de Cuba]]; this was the first full-scale meeting of American underworld leaders since the Chicago meeting in 1932. Lansky set about cleaning up the games at the Montmartre Club, which soon became the "place to be" in Havana. He also wanted to open a casino in the Hotel Nacional, the most elegant hotel in Havana. Batista endorsed Lansky's idea over the objections of American expatriates such as [[Ernest Hemingway]], and the renovated casino wing opened for business in 1955 with a show by [[Eartha Kitt]]. The casino was an immediate success.<ref>[http://www.cubaheritage.org/articles.asp?lID=1&artID=222 Cuban History, Architecture & Culture] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720132310/http://www.cubaheritage.org/articles.asp?lID=1&artID=222 |date=July 20, 2011 }}.</ref>

As the new hotels, nightclubs, and casinos opened, Batista collected his share of the profits. Nightly, the "bagman" for his wife collected 10% of the profits at [[Santo Trafficante, Jr.|Santo Trafficante's]] casinos, the Sans Souci cabaret, and the casinos in the hotels Sevilla-Biltmore, Commodoro, Deauville, and Capri (partly owned by the actor [[George Raft]]). His take from the Lansky casinos—his prized [[Hotel Habana Riviera|Habana Riviera]], the Hotel Nacional, the Montmartre Club, and others—was said to be 30%.<ref>[http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1768.html Fulgencio Batista: Cuban Dictator, 1901–1973] at U-S History.</ref> Lansky was said to have personally contributed millions of dollars per year to Batista's Swiss bank accounts.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Díaz-Briquets, Sergio |author2=Pérez-López, Jorge F. |title=Corruption in Cuba: Castro and beyond|publisher=University of Texas Press|year=2006|isbn=978-0-292-71482-3|page=77|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Fiquofr8LSoC&pg=PA77}}</ref>

===Support of U.S. business and government===
[[File:Gold coated telephone batista ITT habana.JPG|thumb|right|Batista's [[Golden Telephone]] is now in Havana's [[Museum of the Revolution (Cuba)|Museum of the Revolution]] as a symbol of Batista era corruption.]]
{{primary sources section|date=March 2021}}
{{blockquote| At the beginning of 1959 United States companies owned about 40 percent of the Cuban sugar lands—almost all the cattle ranches—90 percent of the mines and mineral concessions—80 percent of the utilities—practically all the oil industry—and supplied two-thirds of Cuba's imports.|John F. Kennedy<ref name = "JFK1960" />}}

In a manner that antagonized the Cuban people, the U.S. government used its influence to advance the interests of and increase the profits of the private American companies, which "dominated the island's economy".<ref name = "JFK1960" /> By the late 1950s, U.S. financial interests owned 90% of Cuban mines, 80% of its public utilities, 50% of its railways, 40% of its sugar production and 25% of its bank deposits—some $1 billion in total.<ref name="Smithson"/>  U.S. financial interests in the region were aided by Batista's announcement of a decree in September 1958 which allowed U.S. corporations to control "all transactions originating or consummated outside of Cuba without being subject to Cuban taxes" by setting up a central office in the country.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Morley |first=Morris H. |date=1982 |title=The U.S. Imperial State in Cuba 1952-1958: Policymaking and Capitalist Interests |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/155730 |journal=Journal of Latin American Studies |volume=14 |issue=1 |pages=143–170 |doi=10.1017/S0022216X00003618 |jstor=155730 |issn=0022-216X}}</ref> According to historian Louis A. Pérez Jr., author of the book ''On Becoming Cuban'', "Daily life had developed into a relentless degradation, with the complicity of political leaders and public officials who operated at the behest of American interests."<ref name="Smithson">[http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/before-the-revolution-159682020/ Before the Revolution] by Natasha Geiling, ''Smithsonian Magazine'', July 31, 2007.</ref>

By 1957, U.S. private investments made since the military coup totaled in excess of $350 million, aided by a series of measures introduced by Batista meant to encourage foreign investment through tax and customs duty exemptions in a mutually beneficial deal, wherein U.S. companies were able to hold monopolies in public utilities and consumer goods in exchange for financial aid and rebuilding of infrastructure.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Morley |first=Morris H. |date=1982 |title=The U.S. Imperial State in Cuba 1952-1958: Policymaking and Capitalist Interests |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/155730 |journal=Journal of Latin American Studies |volume=14 |issue=1 |pages=143–170 |doi=10.1017/S0022216X00003618 |jstor=155730 |issn=0022-216X}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Merrill |first=Dennis |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5149/9780807898635_merrill?turn_away=true |title=Negotiating Paradise: U.S. Tourism and Empire in Twentieth-Century Latin America |date=2009 |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |isbn=978-0-8078-3288-2 |doi=10.5149/9780807898635_merrill |jstor=10.5149/9780807898635_merrill }}</ref> As a symbol of this relationship, [[ITT Corporation]], an American-owned multinational telephone company, presented Batista with a Gold Plated Telephone, as an "expression of gratitude" for the "excessive telephone rate increase", at least according to Senator John F. Kennedy, that Batista granted at the urging of the U.S. government.<ref name="JFK1960" />{{primary source inline|date=March 2021}}

[[Earl E.T. Smith]], former U.S. Ambassador to Cuba, testified to the U.S. Senate in 1960 that, "Until Castro, the U.S. was so overwhelmingly influential in Cuba that the American ambassador was the second most important man, sometimes even more important than the Cuban president."<ref>''Ernesto "Che" Guevara (World Leaders Past & Present)'', by Douglas Kellner, 1989, Chelsea House Publishers, {{ISBN|1-55546-835-7}}, p. 66.</ref> In addition, nearly "all aid" from the U.S. to Batista's government was in the "form of weapons assistance", which "merely strengthened the Batista dictatorship" and "completely failed to advance the economic welfare of the Cuban people". The U.S. Department of Defense provided equipment and arms valued over $16 million and organized officer training for over 500 Cuban officers during the Batista period.<ref name="JFK1960" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Klare |first=Michael T. |title=War Without End: American Planning for the next Vietnams |date=January 1, 1972 |publisher=New York, Vintage Books |isbn=9780394462141 |edition=1st |location=New York |pages=278 |language=en}}</ref>{{primary source inline|date=March 2021}} Such actions later "enabled Castro and the Communists to encourage the growing belief that America was indifferent to Cuban aspirations for a decent life."<ref name="JFK1960" />{{primary source inline|date=March 2021}}

According to historian and author [[James S. Olson]], the U.S. government essentially became a "co-conspirator" in the arrangement because of Batista's strong opposition to communism, which, in the rhetoric of the [[Cold War]], seemed to maintain business stability and a pro-U.S. posture on the island.<ref name = "Dictionary1950" /> Thus, in the view of Olson, "The U.S. government had no difficulty in dealing with him, even if he was a hopeless [[Despotism|despot]]."<ref name = "Dictionary1950" /> On October 6, 1960, Senator [[John F. Kennedy]], in the midst of his campaign for the U.S. presidency, decried Batista's relationship with the U.S. government and criticized the Eisenhower administration for supporting him. The Eisenhower administration's expenses on military aid for Batista's regime increased from $400,000 in 1953 to $3 million by 1958.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Merrill |first=Dennis |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5149/9780807898635_merrill?turn_away=true |title=Negotiating Paradise: U.S. Tourism and Empire in Twentieth-Century Latin America |date=2009 |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |isbn=978-0-8078-3288-2 |doi=10.5149/9780807898635_merrill.7 |jstor=10.5149/9780807898635_merrill }}</ref> The U.S. subsequently suspended the shipment of combat arms to the Cuban government in March 1958, with the Acting Secretary of State Christian A. Herter asserting that "in our best judgment, we could not continue to supply weapons to a government which was resorting to such repressive measures of internal security as to have alienated some 80 percent of the Cuban people."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Historical Documents - Office of the Historian |url=https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1958-60v06/d189 |access-date=May 16, 2025 |website=history.state.gov}}</ref>

{{blockquote|"I loved Havana and was horrified by the way this lovely city had unfortunately been transformed into a huge casino and [[brothel]] for American businessmen […]. My fellow countrymen walked the streets, picked up fourteen-year-old Cuban girls and threw coins just for the pleasure of watching men roll around in the sewers and picking them up. One wondered how Cubans – seeing this reality – could regard the United States in any other way than with hatred."|[[Arthur Meier Schlesinger]], personal advisor to President [[John F. Kennedy|Kennedy]]<ref>{{cite web|access-date=29 August 2017 |archive-date=6 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180706163819/http://operamundi.uol.com.br/conteudo/babel/31916/50+verites+sur+la+dictature+de+fulgencio+batista+a+cuba.shtml |language=fr |title=50 vérités sur la dictature de Fulgencio Batista à Cuba |url=http://operamundi.uol.com.br/conteudo/babel/31916/50+verites+sur+la+dictature+de+fulgencio+batista+a+cuba.shtml |website=Opera Mundi}}<!-- auto-translated from Spanish by Module:CS1 translator --></ref>}}

===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=January 28, 2013}}</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 man by firing squad who was accused of murdering a Lieutenant.]]

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">{{cite book|title=Cuba|author=Jorge I. Domínguez|page=90}}</ref>

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 several 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>{{cite web | title=Batista and Regime Flee Cuba; Castro Moving to Take Power; Mobs Riot and Loot in Havana | url=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=September 24, 2024 |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 = https://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 dictator [[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 figure of 20,000 deaths is disputed by several historians, who consider it "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" />}}