Introduction

The coup d’etat was successful. Within mere hours, on March 10, 1952, General Fulgencio Batista y Zaldívar overthrew the constitutional government of President Carlos Prío Socarrás, which had been in power since 1948. Confronted with the military coup, elected officials decided to flee rather than fight, while the national oligarchy rejoiced at the return to power оf a tyrant who promised an era of “law and order.” Labor leaders hurried to make common cause with the military caudillo; politicians offered him their services hoping to partake in the spoils of power; the Cuban people, unable to resist the emerging dictatorship, stood as mute witnesses to the events; and the nation’s political institutions did not challenge what the army decisively supported. Predictably, the United States and the Latin American governments extended recognition to the de facto regime. An era of national complacency had ended. In Cuba, only the students strongly protested the violation of the Constitution of 1940 and the return to a praetorian military government.