#dictators

Is Putin a Defensive Nationalist or an Expansionist Authoritarian Bent on World Conquest? This is one of the central geopolitical questions of the 21st century, and serious historians and strategists disagree sharply about it.  What was Putin’s real motive for invading the Ukraine?  Did he perceive their entry into NATO as a major threat to the Soviet Union or was it simply a power grab that…

RIP Ross Friedman

Back in power and receiving financial, military and logistical support from the United States government, Batista suspended the 1940 Constitution and revoked most political liberties, including the right to strike. He then aligned with the wealthiest landowners who owned the largest sugar plantations, and presided over a stagnating economy that widened the gap between rich and poor Cubans. Eventually, it reached the point where most of the sugar industry was in U.S. hands, and foreigners owned 70% of the arable land. Batista's repressive government then began to systematically profit from the exploitation of Cuba's commercial interests, by negotiating lucrative relationships both with the American Mafia, who controlled the drug, gambling, and prostitution businesses in Havana, and with large U.S.-based multinational companies who were awarded lucrative contracts. To quell the growing discontent amongst the populace—which was subsequently displayed through frequent student riots and demonstrations—Batista established tighter censorship of the media, while also utilizing his Bureau for the Repression of Communist Activities secret police to carry out wide-scale violence, torture and public executions. These murders mounted in 1957, as socialist ideas became more influential. While exact numbers are unclear, estimates of the death toll attributed to Batista range from hundreds to up to 20,000 victims. Batista's efforts to quell the unrest proved not only ineffective, but his tactics were the catalyst to even wider resistance against his regime. During this time, revolutionary leaders Fidel Castro and Che Guevara, founders of the 26th of July Movement, began a revolution that saw a combination of peaceful protests and guerrilla warfare in both rural and urban areas of Cuba between 1956 and 1958. After almost two years of fighting, rebel forces led by Guevara defeated Batista's forces at the Battle of Santa Clara on New Year's Eve, 1958, effectively collapsing the regime. On January 1, 1959, Batista announced his resignation, fleeing the country to the Dominican Republic under the protection of Rafael Trujillo*, before settling in Portugal, spending the rest of his life in exile until his death in 1973.

The Cuban Revolution was a direct result of the USA making Cuba into a huge enslaved plantation. US Presidents have been trying desperately to return it to that status ever since. Ted Cruz claims to hate the current Cuban government because his father was tortured there, but also admits that it was actually this guy's underlings who did it.

Remember this as we're told that the USA's aggression against the Cuban people is somehow necessary.

Thirty-five of America's most embarrassing "friends", a cunning crew of tyrants and corrupt puppet-presidents who have been rewarded handsomely for their loyalty to U.S. interests. From the Eclipse Comics Trading Cards series of 1990.