Second Batista period: second coup in 1952
through revolution and 1958 flight (20 marzo 1952 anni – 31 dic 1958 anni)
Descrizione:
After being elected Senator from the Santa Clara Province in 1948, Batista organized his own political party. He later announced his presidential candidacy for the June 1952 presidential elections. As the election date approached, Batista was running last, and it became apparent that he would lose. Thus, he staged a relatively bloodless coup d'état on March 10, 1952 and removed Carlos Prío Socarrás from the presidency. Remembering the bloodshed of the 1930s, Cubans were reluctant to fight. On March 27, Batista's government was formally recognized by the United States. Shortly thereafter, Batista suspended several guarantees of Cuba's 1940 constitution, as well as the right to strike.[8] Batista then went on to cancel the elections and dissolved all political parties. The new government soon received diplomatic recognition from the United States, and the number of American corporations continued to swell in Cuba. The island became a major tourist destination, creating unprecedented material prosperity for its inhabitants.
Batista’s past democratic and pro-labor tendencies, as well as the fear of another episode of bloody violence, gained him tenuous support from the survivors of the Independence Wars, bankers, the association of cane growers, the colonos (prosperous sharecroppers and small landowners), and the leader of the major labor confederation (the CTC), Eusebio Mujal. Only a few labor leaders rebelled. The major political parties, the Ortodoxo and the Auténtico were undecisive; while the communist Partido Socialista Popular supported Batista until 1957.
Batista opened Havana to large-scale gambling and announced that the Cuban government would match, dollar for dollar, any hotel investment over $1 million, which would include a casino license. Moreover, Batista reorganized the government so that he and his political appointees could legally harvest the nation's new-found riches.[9] This period was marked by considerable construction of private high-rises and public tunnels and roads, including the Havana-Varadero highway, the Rancho Boyeros airport, train lines, and an underwater tunnel. Havana became the third most wealthy city in the world, with more TV sets, telephones, and late model Cadillacs per household than any city in America. The "Civic Plaza"—later renamed Plaza de la Revolución under the Castro regime—and its surrounding buildings were also completed in these times.
The Cuban people, tired of corrupt governments, were initially accepting of the coup, hoping that Batista would restore stability to the island after the political violence, labor unrest, and government corruption that had occurred during Carlos Prío Socarrás' tenure. Advocates of liberal democracy, however, viewed Batista's presidency as unconstitutional and unacceptable because he was not elected. Due to rising popular unrest and to appease the United States, Batista held an election, in which there were no other legal candidates, to become the supposedly legitimate president of Cuba in 1954.[10]
Despite the unprecedented economic prosperity of the 1950s, opposition parties, such as the now firmly anti-Batista Ortodoxo and the Auténtico, managed to promote social unrest. Radical anti-Batista university students planted bombs that killed civilians and military personnel alike. Batista responded with repression of the subversives. However, government corruption and claims of close relationships with the mafia, now resulted in a rise in general opposition to his regime from the rich and middle classes.
Aggiunto al nastro di tempo:
Data:
20 marzo 1952 anni
31 dic 1958 anni
~ 6 years and 9 months