Posted on 01/19/2023 9:54:59 AM PST by SeekAndFind
A lot of things happened in January in Cuban history. Jose Marti, the leader of independence against Spain, was born in January 28, 1853. In 1959, the so-called "revolution” happened. The U.S. broke diplomatic relations with Cuba in January 1961. And we remember that Fulgencio Batista was born in January 1901, one year before Cuba became an independent nation in 1902. His name is all over 20th-century Cuban history. It’s also difficult to mention his name without getting a strong reaction. He died in exile in 1973.
I was born in the 1950s, the last decade of Batista’s Cuba. So I was in between the two eras, Batista and Castro. What was Batista's legacy? Yes, he overthrew a president in 1952 and corruption was a problem, but don't believe that silly movie Godfather II. No one was running to their boats and there were definitely no rebels ready to commit suicide in protest. It did not happen.
Nevertheless, I make no excuses for Batista's mistakes. My parents were not "Batistianos" and were super critical of that coup. As my late father would tell me, yes we had some problems but the coup was not necessary. To be fair, it was not the first coup in Cuban history.
What about the rest of Batista's story? Cuba was a young and vibrant country with hope and a future. In other words, the island of Cuba attracted people rather than driving its citizens away looking for a future.
It is really sad to watch Cuba today. The young escape and look for a better life, preferably in the U.S. The old get stuck behind.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
Instinctively, everyone knew that there was a future in Cuba, no matter how passionate the disagreements were. Again, as my late parents used to say, yes, we had problems but we knew that one way or another we'd work it out. As they had in the past.
It is even more painful when you realize that pre-Castro Cuba attracted thousands of immigrants from all over the world.
“It is even more painful when you realize that pre-Castro Cuba attracted thousands of immigrants from all over the world.”
Good food, good music, good weather, and beautiful women. Who wouldn’t want to live there, if not for the commies?
“I make no excuses for Batista’s mistakes”
Yes, yes you do.
Batista to Castro was one Shiite Hellhole for The People into another.
Batista was the old Patron style of exploitation that still exists in lots of Latin American cultures. Great for the top tier, crap and more scraps for the bottom.
Castro was just a brutal Crook. But a system with the same great deal for the top tier, with scraps, crap and prison for the rest.
Batista was an intelligent man who rose from the bottom to the top of his society, He was in his first presidency a model for Latin American leaders. He unfortunately fell to his own ego and became a parody in his second presidency. It appears his regime executed well less thana thousand rebels, far fewer than Castro did in any year of the first decade of his tyranny. Anyone old enough to remember what the capital of Cuba was like in 1958 and what Havanna is today knows who was the better ruler. Incidentally Batista diverted himself in retirement in Portugal in writing historical memoirs which are remarkable.
“We have now what we have always needed, real partnership with the government.” - Hyman Roth
1950s Havana was a thriving tourist destination, and the economy was prospering. Lots of foreign, esp. US investment going in. The future looked bright. After the “revolution” darkness descended. Only question is, why the US govt was adamant that “Batista must go.”
“Batista to Castro was one Shiite Hellhole for The People into another.”
Yep, Commie revolutions don’t come from nowhere.
Things have to be pretty bad for the population to look at a group of Marxist thugs and think “those guys might be better”
Hogwash.
Though thoroughly corrupt and unstable, pre-revolutionary Cuba was a relatively wealthy and prosperous country.
During the first half of the 20th century, well over a million Spaniards (as in the European kind) emigrated to Cuba. By 1958, on the eve of the revolution, tens of thousands of Italians had pending visa applications in the Cuban consulate in Rome.
After the revolution, needless to say, millions fled the island.
Please explain how the revolution transformed Cuba from a nation of immigrants to a nation of emigrants.
RE: Good food, good music, good weather, and beautiful women. Who wouldn’t want to live there, if not for the commies?
We visited Cuba in 2018. As you travel around Havana in one of those chartered 1950’s style GM vehicles, you notice a lot of old, unkept buildings with great traditional character still standing.
Imagine a very beautiful woman who hasn’t taken a bath nor combed her hair— that’s how Havana’s buildings look like.
And the island itself is NATURALLY BEAUTIFUL. Also, NO TRAFFIC as people don’t own cars. 😀😆
One can just imagine what the place would look like if free market enterprises were to return unfettered by corrupt government interference…
SeeMs to me Cuba and Havana were still a hugely popular vacation destination for lots of civilized people. All through the ‘50s.
Not sure how that squares with hellhole.
Communists were infesting State in the ‘50s and were happy to see Castro ascend to power.
Even the Mob told him to lighten up and give into some of the peoples demands—he would not listen. He bought Max Fleishmann’s old Yacht—a 160 footer named the Haida. Sailed it to Europe where it is today.
I must say had good taste.
Cuba has had a rough few years since 2018.
The poverty is a complete disaster today—the economy is in full collapse with even tobacco and sugar workers fleeing the country—which makes things even worse for those that remain.
It looks like the cigar exports are now about a third of what they were pre-Covid.
So the question becomes is corruption more firmly entrenched in a communist political system or a democratic system? I would argue that communist governments are more corrupt due to their generational or even multigenerational control. At least democratic governments tolerate the accusation and can be thrown out of power.
My dad told me a story, when mom was pregnant with me and giving birth at the hospital, this was in the mid 1960s. Dad was nervous as hell, and distractedly reading a Time magazine, it was an article about Castro and what a great guy he was. It didn’t make any sense. Castro was not considered a good guy in the 1960s, not even by Time magazine.
Then he looked at the date, the joke about old out of date magazines at Doctors offices isn’t false, it was a pre-revolution slob job on old Fidel.
If we had let United Fruit handle this, Fidel Castro never would have come to power.
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