Tropicana Nights: The Life and Times of the Legendary Cuban Nightclub

by Rosa Lowinger

Yet neither the title of president, which Batista won in the 1940 elections, nor colonel, could begin to describe the extent of his influence. Throughout most the 1930s, the dashing Batista (so broad was his smile and so handsome his features that he was known, since youth, as mulato lindo, or “handsome mulatto”) ran Cuban politics through a series of puppet presidents. It was no easy task, but Batista had an extraordinary gift for leadership and manipulation. “His mind works like lightning. He can practically convince one that a thing is true and that he is logical, which is extraordinary in a country whose idea of logic leaves one gasping,” wrote Ruby Hart Phillips of Batista. “Boss Batista commands the biggest army in Cuba’s history (12,000 regulars, 20,000 reserves and a national police force of 4,000),” reported Time magazine on April 26, 1937. That issue of Time, which had the Cuban strongman on the cover with the caption, “Boss Batista: paternalism begins at home,” described Batista’s methods of controlling the presidency, which involved spending vast sums on the army. With the army and trade unions solidly behind him, the office of president was de facto his, whether he was elected to it or not. When he ran in 1940, he had even received support from the Communist Party, which he then legalized at a time when other foreign or nationalist parties had been banned. In 1944, given that Batista flexed his political muscle on behalf of Saladrigas, no one had hopes for Ram...