Batista y Saldiva, dictator and president of Cuba (1940-1944, 1954-1958). Born on January 16, 1901, died in Spain in August 1973. In August 1933, a popular movement against the dictatorship of G. Machado y Morales broke out in Cuba. In September, he participated in a coup d'état, seized military power, and later controlled successive governments as chief of army staff. He became president in July 1940 and promulgated the constitution. He failed in the 1944 election and lived in the United States. After returning home, he was elected to the Senate in 1948. In March 1952, he took power again in a military coup, and implemented dictatorship. He was re-elected president in November 1954. During his tenure, he repeatedly announced the suspension of the implementation of the Constitution, enacted anti-labor laws, banned strikes and mass gatherings, and killed more than 20,000 patriots. He signed a "Military Mutual Assistance Treaty" with the United States to facilitate the plundering of Cuban wealth by American companies. At the end of 1958, the insurgent army led by F. Castro overthrew the regime of Batista y Saldiva, and he fled to the Dominican Republic on January 1, 1959.