Batista Coup d’état (1952)

Mon Mar 10, 1952

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On this day in 1952, Fulgencio Batista led a military coup against outgoing Cuban president Carlos Prío Socarrás. With Batista’s help, U.S. capital dominated the Cuban economy until he was ousted from power in 1959.

As part of the coup, Batista canceled national elections three months before they were scheduled to take place. Batista, himself a candidate, was not leading in the polls.

Claiming his actions were necessary to “save the Republic from chaos”, Batista, with the backing of the army, stormed the Presidential Palace with squads of troops and police surrounding the building. President Prío had left the area 30 minutes before however, and the palace was seized without violence.

The United States recognized his government on March 27th, and Batista allowed U.S. financial interests to dominate Cuba’s economy. By the late 1950s, U.S. capitalists 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, approximately $1 billion in total assets.

When asked to analyze Batista’s government, historian Arthur Schlesinger wrote “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…is an open invitation to revolution.”

Accordingly, Batista’s reign ended on January 1st, 1959 when he was ousted from power by communist revolutionaries. Early that morning, Batista fled with an estimated personal fortune of $300 million to the Dominican Republic, where strongman and previous military ally Rafael Trujillo held power. Batista eventually found political asylum in Oliveira Salazar’s Portugal and Francisco Franco’s Spain, dying in the latter in 1973.