Genteel Revolution

Cuba last week had its first revolution in seven years. Compared with the butcheries that clotted up the regimes of Gerardo ("Tyrant") Machado and preceding Cuban presidents, it was as genteel as a dowager's hiccup.

The seeds of trouble were sown back in 1933 when a brash, swarthy sergeant named Fulgencio Batista and several fellow sergeants ousted the corrupt officers' clique that controlled the Government and made themselves overlords of the shark-shaped island. Batista became boss. He promoted himself to Commander in Chief of the Army and pinned a colonel's epaulets on his shoulders. To Sergeant Jose Pedraza he gave the national police, and Sergeant Angel Gonzalez got the Navy. When he offered Sergeant Pedraza the rank of major, that worthy replied: "Don't bother. I've already made myself colonel." A compromise rank of lieutenant colonel was finally agreed upon for Sergeants Pedraza and Gonzalez, but they resented their inferiority to Batista, and rivalry began.

The sergeants' regime brought opulence and power to the Army, very little to the country. Education and other civic functions were placed under the supervision of the Army; the administration of lighthouses, fishing and customs went to the Navy. Many officers began to collect double and triple salaries for these additional duties. To his allotted tasks, Police Chief Pedraza added the State lottery and illegal numbers racket, and Navy Chief Gonzalez collared the extensive contraband trade that centred around Cuba.

Six years of success at remaining in power made Batista tolerant and social-minded, but only quickened the appetites of certain henchmen. Determined to put Cuba on a democratic basis that would convince the U.S. Treasury it was a good loan risk, Batista turned the Army over to Pedraza, promoted to colonel in 1936, got himself elected President. Last June he ratified a constitution that removed all civic concessions from the Army and Navy and reduced them to a position of subservience to the State. He also accorded labor extensive rights, to the annoyance of native and foreign investors. World War II and the consequent loss of the European sugar market seriously upset Cuban economy and confronted Batista with the problem of pacifying conservative groups while still keeping his promises to labor. The makings of a spicy political stew were in the pot. Last week it boiled over.

Trouble started when the President, impatient with Police Chief Bernardo Garcia, a Pedraza stooge, for not enforcing his decrees against gambling and vice, demanded and got his resignation. He intended to replace him with his friend, Lieut. Colonel Manuel Benitez, but Colonel Pedraza got to the police headquarters first and announced that he was again Chief of Police as well as Commander in Chief of the Army. It was a direct challenge to Batista's authority.

The President remained inactive for two days making plans. Impatient Colonel Pedraza demanded an audience, was refused. Fellow Plotter Lieut. Colonel Gonzalez, disgruntled over the loss of his customs concession and the sharp contraband control ordered by Batista, unlimbered the guns of La Punta fortress, trained them on the Presidential Palace. Guards set up machine guns around the Palace and piled sandbags in front of it. Cubans waited for the revolution.

Under cover of darkness, Batista slipped out the back door of the Palace, jumped in his grey and blue car and sped away to Camp Columbia, the Army headquarters. He called the officers together, ascertained that they were with him rather than with Commander in Chief Pedraza. Then things began to happen.

The President placed himself at the head of the Army, suspended constitutional guarantees for 15 days and commanded the Army to take over public utilities. The big guns of Camp Columbia were trained on La Punta fortress. Batista ordered the arrest of Colonel Pedraza and of Lieut. Colonels Gonzalez and Garcia, replaced them. Next morning all the rebels were in custody. To the Army and nation the President declared that it had been necessary to "repress" his Army and Navy chiefs because of their "attitude of sedition," but that "a deep crisis which endangered the stability of the Republic has been vanquished." Victorious, he motored back to the Palace, tired but smiling.

Then, for Cubans, came the most incredible part of the whole revolution. Constitutional guarantees were restored. With the President's permission and assistance, Culprits Pedraza, Garcia and other rebels with their families took a specially chartered Pan American Airways plane to Miami, where they were joined two days later by Culprit Gonzalez. Arriving in Florida, Gonzalez spoke like a defeated U. S. Presidential candidate. "1 bear President Batista only gratitude." he said, "and want to thank him for all the kindness he has shown me in the past and while I was getting ready to sail for the United States." Cuba had indeed progressed far since 1933, when a police chief who had lost favor was shot, hanged, burned and finally hacked to bits.

Joy and Flowers. In Cuba's ornate Presidential Palace all was joy and flowers. Not only had the President suppressed a revolt; he had also become the father of a daughter; name, Elisa. Army and Navy planes zoomed low over the Palace to drop bouquets of flowers. Happy Fulgencio Batista decreed that every child born on the same day (about 180 new Cubans arrive daily) should receive a brand-new ten-peso note, a five-peso savings account and a shinv medal.

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