Fulgencio Batista y Zaldívar (January 16, 1901 - August 6, 1973) was the elected President of Cuba from 1940-1944, and the U.S.-backed authoritarian ruler from 1952-1959, before being overthrown during the Cuban Revolution.
Born Rubén Zaldívar, Batista rose to power as part of the 1933 Revolt of the Sergeants, which overthrew the provisional government of Carlos Manuel de Céspedes y Quesada. Batista appointed himself chief of the armed forces, with the rank of colonel, effectively controlling the five-member "pentarchy" that functioned as the collective head of state. In 1940 he was elected President of Cuba on a populist platform and instated the 1940 Constitution of Cuba. After finishing his term, he lived in Florida before returning to Cuba to run for president in 1952. He led a military coup against President Carlos Prío Socarrás and regained power.
Receiving financial, military and logistical support from the U.S. government, Batista suspended the 1940 Constitution, revoking most political liberties. With both the American Mafia and large U.S.-based multinational companies, his government began to systematically profit from the exploitation of Cuba's commercial interests. To quell the growing discontent amongst the populace—displayed through frequent student riots and demonstrations—Batista established tighter censorship of the media, while also utilizing his Bureau for the Repression of Communist Activities secret police to carry out wide-scale violence, torture and public executions.
From 1956-1958, Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement and other nationalist rebelling elements led an urban and rural-based guerrilla uprising against Batista's government, culminating in his defeat by rebels under the command of Che Guevara at the Battle of Santa Clara on New Year's Day 1959. Batista immediately fled the island and eventually found political asylum in Oliveira Salazar's Portugal.
He died in Marbella in 1973, aged 72.

Born Rubén Zaldívar, Batista rose to power as part of the 1933 Revolt of the Sergeants, which overthrew the provisional government of Carlos Manuel de Céspedes y Quesada. Batista appointed himself chief of the armed forces, with the rank of colonel, effectively controlling the five-member “pentarchy” that functioned as the collective head of state. In 1940 he was elected President of Cuba on a populist platform and instated the 1940 Constitution of Cuba. After finishing his term, he lived in Florida before returning to Cuba to run for president in 1952. He led a military coup against President Carlos Prío Socarrás and regained power.
Receiving financial, military and logistical support from the U.S. government, Batista suspended the 1940 Constitution, revoking most political liberties. With both the American Mafia and large U.S.-based multinational companies, his government began to systematically profit from the exploitation of Cuba’s commercial interests. To quell the growing discontent amongst the populace—displayed through frequent student riots and demonstrations—Batista established tighter censorship of the media, while also utilizing his Bureau for the Repression of Communist Activities secret police to carry out wide-scale violence, torture and public executions.
From 1956-1958, Fidel Castro’s 26th of July Movement and other nationalist rebelling elements led an urban and rural-based guerrilla uprising against Batista’s government, culminating in his defeat by rebels under the command of Che Guevara at the Battle of Santa Clara on New Year’s Day 1959. Batista immediately fled the island and eventually found political asylum in Oliveira Salazar’s Portugal.
He died in Marbella in 1973, aged 72.