U.S.-backed dictator, military sergeant, and former president Fulgencio Batista refused to lose an election and installed himself as the nation’s leader once again. This time, he came back ruthless. He crushed, tortured, and jailed his enemies, censored the schools and the press, and allowed for rampant privatization and de facto segregation to disenfranchise Afro-Cubans en masse. In the background of the death and the violence, Havana was becoming a playground for the corrupt, as Batista made the city a safe haven for the American mob in exchange for a cut of their profits.
