From bad (authoritarian dictatorship) to worse (totalitarian dictatorship)
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| #TheyAreContinuity #TheyAreDictators ( #SomosContinuidad #SonDictadores) |
Democracy ended in Cuba seventy two years ago on March 10, 1952. It was ended by General Fulgencio
Batista who carried out a military coup against the legitimately
elected democratic government. The last democratically
elected president, Carlos Prio, and his first lady went into exile, and over the next seven years, an authoritarian dictatorship ruled Cuba, becoming increasingly unpopular.
The
refusal of Batista to give up power through a process of dialogue
opened the path for Fidel and Raul Castro to violently seize it, but
they did not do it alone.
They had the help of the Communist International, The New York Times, an arms embargo placed on Batista in March 1958 by the United States, and pressure from the U.S. Ambassador to Cuba in December 1958, the authoritarian dictator fled Cuba in the early morning hours of January 1, 1959.
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| Presidents of Cuba from 1902 to 1952 and dictator Batista |
This
put an end to a half century of democratic Cuban governments, and
within nine years the Castro regime seized Cuban's private sector and
centralized economic control under Havana's totalitarian communist
dictatorship. Cuba's official motto was changed from Homeland and
Liberty (Patria y Libertad) by the new communist regime to Homeland or
Death, We Shall Triumph (¡Patria o Muerte, Venceremos!).
Since
the beginning of their struggle in 1953, the Castro brothers pledged a
democratic restoration in Cuba, but all along planned a Marxist-Leninist
takeover and the imposition of a totalitarian communist dictatorship,
killing tens of thousands of Cubans. They systematically denied human rights to all Cubans while exporting their repressive model to Africa and Latin America, creating misery for millions.
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| Firing squads in Cuba ordered by the Castro brother | |
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The Communist regime rewrote Cuban history, creating myths to justify its tyrannical rule. The reality was that between 1902 and 1952, there existed in Cuba a system that had overseen rising living standards for five decades and had been on the cutting edge of human rights. The Marxist-Leninist dictatorship would declare war on human rights at home and abroad.
Generations of Cubans resisted this communist dictatorship from 1959 to the present.
Tens of thousands of Cubans risked everything in July 2021, taking to the streets in peaceful protests demanding an end to the dictatorship. The Castro regime responded by
firing on unarmed protesters, imprisoning hundreds, and condemning many
of them to 20 and 30 year prison sentences over the Christmas holidays
for exercising their right to peaceful assembly.
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| On the streets of Cuba on July 11, 2021 |
On this March 10th, as Cubans observe 70 years without democracy and pledge to redouble their efforts to achieve a democratic restoration in
Cuba it is a good moment to condemn the Castro dictatorship for its
63-year betrayal of the democratic aspirations of the Cuban people. It
is a good day to remember President Carlos Prio Socarrás and his wife Mary Tarrero de Prio.
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| President Carlos Prio Socarrás and his wife Mary Tarrero de Prio |
Communists lie when they say that the Batista dictatorship in the 1950s was backed by the United States.
Professor Jaime Suchlicki, of the Cuban Studies
Institute analyzed the conditions and circumstances that led to the 1952 Batista dictatorship.
In a Memorandum of Conversation, by the Ambassador in Cuba (Beaulac) with
Dr. Miguel Angel de la Campa, Minister of State datelined Habana, March
22, 1952 and marked secret the U.S. Ambassador indicated that
according to Dr. Campa:
“ Cuba intended to restore normal
relations with countries toward which the former Cuban Government had
had an attitude of hostility. He mentioned Spain and the Dominican
Republic in particular. He said he thought the United States should
recognize promptly; that it was in our interest that the situation
should develop in an orderly way. I reminded Dr. Campa that our
Government had not been consulted about the coup d'etat and that Cuba could not expect automatic recognition from us.”
On March 24, 1952 in a memorandum by the Secretary of State Dean Acheson to President Harry S. Truman expressed surprise and "
deplore[d] the way in which the Batista coup was brought about and is
apprehensive that this kind of thing may occur in other countries of
Latin America where elections are being held this year."
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| Secretary of State Dean Acheson and President Harry S. Truman |
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The U.S. eventually recognized the Batista regime, but the ambivalence remained. On May 20, 1957 Fidel Castro requested that the United State stop sending arms to Batista. The United States complied with an arms embargo imposed on the Batista regime less than a year later.
In January of 1958 the United States was pressuring Batista to restore Constitutional guarantees in exchange for the sale of arms.
On March 14, 1958 the State Department in a telegram to the U.S. Embassy in Cuba requested that the export license for 1,950 M-1 rifles for the Cuban Army awaiting shipment be suspended.
This was done because the State Department felt that the Cuban
government had failed to "create conditions for fair elections."
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| Manuel Urrutia |
On March 17, 1958 Fidel Castro's future candidate for provisional president, Manuel Urrutia, along with a delegation of other supporters in exile of the July 26th movement,
met with officials at the State Department. They lobbied the U.S.
government and argued that arms shipments to Cuba were for hemispheric
defense, and they claimed that Batista using them against Cuban
nationals was in violation of the conditions agreed to between the two
countries. On the same day the Cuban Government presented to
the U.S. Embassy in Havana a formal note protesting the delay in the shipment of M-1
rifles to the Cuban Army, and warned that it would weaken the Cuban government and lead to its possible downfall.
On March 26, 1958 in another telegram
from the State Department to the U.S. Embassy in Havana the view was
expressed how the arms embargo could lead to the fall of Batista's
regime:
“Department has considered possibility its actions could have an adverse
psychological effect GOC and could unintentionally contribute to or
accelerate eventual Batista downfall. On other hand, shipment US combat
arms at this time would probably invite increased resentment against US
and associate it with Batista strong arm methods, especially following
so closely on heels of following developments:
- Government publicly desisted from peace efforts.
- Government suspended guarantees again.
- Batista expressed confidence Government will win elections with his
candidate and insists they will be held despite suspension guarantees
but has made no real effort to satisfy public opinion on their fairness
and effectiveness as possible means achieve fair and acceptable
solution.
- Batista announced would increase size arms and informed you he would
again undertake mass population shift Oriente, and otherwise acted in
manner to discourage those who supported or could be brought to support
peaceful settlement by constructive negotiations.
The United States would continue to pressure Batista to hold free elections and leave office for the remainder of 1958. Earl E. T. Smith, the U.S. ambassador to Cuba, on December 17, 1958 delivered a message from the State Department to Fulgencio Batista that the United States viewed "with skepticism
any plan on his part, or any intention on his part, to
remain in Cuba indefinitely."
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| Ambassador Earl E. T. Smith |
The U.S. government had dealt Batista a
mortal blow, and fourteen days later the Cuban dictatorship fell, and the Castro era had started. This was not a U.S. backed dictatorship.
