Word: fulgencio
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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When the polls opened at 7 a.m., no one in Cuba or outside believed that this would be more than a rubber-stamp election. The Government candidates had everything. They were backed by President Fulgencio Batista, Cuba's boss for more than a decade, by the Army, the public job holders and their families, by a juicy campaign fund. Wiseacres put their money (wagers ran as high as $100,000) on the Government ticket to win, one way or another...
...Fulgencio Batista, who had come up from rags to the riches of the Presidential Palace, astonished everybody, apparently including himself. The Army bully-boy whom most Americans still picture as a strong-arm dictator turned out to be too much of a democrat for his own side. He had set rules: compulsory, secret voting; hands off by the Army; no shooting or slugging at the polls. U.S. Ambassador Spruille Braden made history by forbidding U.S. business firms or individuals to contribute to the parties. Fulgencio Batista said he wanted democracy...
...Freedom. In Havana's streets the miracle dawned upon the people. By afternoon they were milling in the parks and plazas, blowing horns, waving flags, beating bongo drums, dancing the Conga down the magnificent Prado. Loudly they cheered for Grau San Martin. Even more loudly they cheered Fulgencio Batista, the strong man who had muscled democracy into Cuba...
Days of Dictatorship. A little more than ten years ago Fulgencio Batista had been one of the humblest of Cuba's humble pueblo. He began his education (including English) in a U.S.-Quaker missionary school. He made a hungry living as a laborer in the cane fields, on the docks and railroads. He was a jack-of-all-trades: tailor, mechanic, charcoal vender, fruit peddler, and finally an Army stenographer. In the Army he got around, became a staff sergeant with remarkably wide connections. When Gerardo Machado's hated dictatorship rotted away in 1933, Sergeant Batista, then...
What Now? At 43, Cuba's strong man suddenly had new prestige. Fulgencio Batista was hardly ripe for retirement. He talked of a long trip among Cuba's neighbor countries; perhaps the ex-cane-chopper dreamed of becoming a voice in all Latin America. He was a man to watch. He was sure to keep one eye on the home island, to counter anything smacking of unpractical government. From his balcony last week he told his pueblo that if they ever needed him, he would answer their cries. Dr. Grau, preparing to move into the Presidential Palace next...