Word: grau
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After showing his countrymen the unusual spectacle of a dictator earnestly running for President, Cuba's Strongman Fulgencio Batista suddenly found himself running all alone this week. In a dramatic announcement only 36 hours before the polls were to open, his only opponent, ex-President Ramón Grau San Martin, withdrew from the race. Batista smilingly announced that the elections (for Congress, governorships and local offices as well as for the presidency) would go off as scheduled. But Grau's walkout had spoiled the strongman's plan. Batista's main purpose in scheduling elections...
...efforts to legitimize his military coup of March 1952, Batista had waged a surprisingly energetic campaign. All in all, it was a clever one, too, and some observers thought Batista could beat Grau fair and square...
...much as he wanted electoral endorsement, Batista also wanted to stay in power. And while Cubans doubtless remember the treasury looting that went on under Grau, they may also remember that they were freer and more prosperous in those days; moreover, they have a cranky habit of turning against strongmen-even good ones. Last week, as a possible precaution against such nostalgic ingratitude, the Batista-controlled supreme electoral court forbade newspapers and radio stations to use election results from any source but the court's own official bulletins. That might guard against phony or inaccurate reports, but it also...
Suits & Suitcases. It was wonderful fun for the highbinders who could get it. Still pending in a Havana court is a lawsuit brought by an Orthodox (Reform) Party Senator demanding that Grau and his ministers, including Prío, explain what happened to $174,241,840.14 that seemed to have disappeared during Grau's regime. The Senator's title for his case: "The greatest theft in history." But the greatest of the thieves is not named in the suit. José Manuel Alemán, Grau's favorite minister, who stole not one but an estimated hundred...
...spite of its graft and corruption, there was some good to be said for Cuba's seven-year-old democratic regime. Havana under Grau and Prío was a haven of free speech and free thought. They built schools, hospitals and highways. They gave Cuba a national bank, made loans to expand industry and diversify agriculture, and improved labor standards in a land plagued by seasonal unemployment. And, despite fantastic sums spent to sway elections, they kept the way open for democratic change...