Reddit mentions of Fulgencio Batista: From Revolutionary to Strongman (Volume 1)

Right and now in the U.S. we are starting to have people who are questioning the system of Capitalism. 'Trying to organize coups or revolutions, etc is just a try for control. It is a positive action in the big picture'. Who are we in the U.S. to be financing coups and revolutions in other countries we have no control over? Just look up who Flugencio Batista was where he was a U.S. backed dictator. Yes he was a political prisoner just read the book The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr. he was arrested for violating the laws of segregation and was labeled a 'communist' on multiple occasions.

Actually when Batista first emerged in Cuban politics (1933), it was through a militray coup that saw him end up as Chief of the Army. Yes, he had strong ties at the time with Communists and Socialists on the island but it was a relationship of convenience. When he makes a run for the Presidency in 40 (40-44), it's the backing of labor and the Cuban left that get's him there. However, when he grows tired of being Cuba's backstage strongman and takes the Presidency without elections in 52, he is a very different man. He has new and more powerful allies, he doesnt need public support (hence no election) - United Fruit and Organized Crime would provie the muscle to keep him in power with no need to pander to anyone beyond the Cuban elite that benefitted from his rule.

Frank Argote-Freyre wrote a pretty good bio years ago but he never wrote a second volume.