9781422279786

American companies doing business on the island. Batista complied. Over the next six years, Batista ruled Cuba from behind the scenes, installing and removing a succession of presidents. Cuba’s political system had been chaotic and dysfunctional since the country gained independence. In 1940, however, Cubans’ hopes for stability and democracy were buoyed. That year, a constitutional assembly adopted a progressive constitu-

Fulgencio Batista (center) shakes hands with Undersecretary of State Sumner Welles during the Cuban dictator’s visit to Washington, D.C., in November 1938. U.S. officials had encouraged Batista to seize power, and they supported his government.

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Cuba Under the Castros