workingclasshistory:

On this day, 10 March 1952, Fulgencio Batista led a coup in Cuba and appointed himself President. Backed by the US, business and the wealthy elite, his government killed thousands in anti-communist purges. He was eventually overthrown by the revolution in 1959.
Senator John F. Kennedy later described his rule: “Fulgencio Batista murdered 20,000 Cubans in 7 years - a greater proportion of the Cuban population than the proportion of Americans who died in both World Wars, and he turned democratic Cuba into a complete police state - destroying every individual liberty. Yet, our aid to his regime, and the ineptness of our policies, enabled Batista to invoke the name of the United States in support of his reign of terror. Administration spokesmen publicly praised Batista - hailed him as a stanch ally and a good friend - at a time when Batista was murdering thousands, destroying the last vestiges of freedom, and stealing hundreds of millions of dollars from the Cuban people, and we failed to press for free elections.”
Pic: A Batista firing squad in action https://www.facebook.com/workingclasshistory/photos/a.296224173896073/1668948189956991/?type=3