Some Standard Cynical CIA-Style Cuba Covid Reporting at The Washington Post

[Judi Lynn]

18. Wikipedia review of US-supported vicious dictator Fulgencio Batista and why the revolution happened:

Last edited Tue Apr 6, 2021, 09:05 PM - Edit history (1)

Snippets, from the complete article:

According to historian and author James S. Olson, the U.S. government essentially became a "co-conspirator" in the arrangement because of Batista's strong opposition to communism, which, in the rhetoric of the Cold War, seemed to maintain business stability and a pro-U.S. posture on the island.[9] Thus, in the view of Olson, "The U.S. government had no difficulty in dealing with him, even if he was a hopeless despot."[9] On October 6, 1960 Senator John F. Kennedy, in the midst of his campaign for the U.S. Presidency, decried Batista's relationship with the U.S. government and criticized the Eisenhower administration for supporting him:

Fulgencio Batista murdered 20,000 Cubans in seven years ... and he turned Democratic Cuba into a complete police state—destroying every individual liberty. Yet our aid to his regime, and the ineptness of our policies, enabled Batista to invoke the name of the United States in support of his reign of terror. Administration spokesmen publicly praised Batista—hailed him as a staunch ally and a good friend—at a time when Batista was murdering thousands, destroying the last vestiges of freedom, and stealing hundreds of millions of dollars from the Cuban people, and we failed to press for free elections.[49]

Batista, Fidel Castro and the Cuban Revolution

I believe that there is no country in the world including any and all the countries under colonial domination, where economic colonization, humiliation and exploitation were worse than in Cuba, in part owing to my country's policies during the Batista regime. I approved the proclamation which Fidel Castro made in the Sierra Maestra, when he justifiably called for justice and especially yearned to rid Cuba of corruption. I will even go further: to some extent it is as though Batista was the incarnation of a number of sins on the part of the United States. Now we shall have to pay for those sins. In the matter of the Batista regime, I am in agreement with the first Cuban revolutionaries. That is perfectly clear.

—?U.S. President John F. Kennedy, to Jean Daniel, October 24, 1963[62]

In an effort to gather information about Castro's army, Batista's secret police pulled in people for questioning. Many innocent people were tortured by Batista's police, while suspects, including youth, were publicly executed as a warning to others who were considering joining the insurgency. Additionally, "Hundreds of mangled bodies were left hanging from lamp posts or dumped in the streets in a grotesque variation of the Spanish colonial practice of public executions."[71] The brutal behavior backfired and increased support for the guerrillas. In 1958, 45 organizations signed an open letter supporting July 26 Movement, among them national bodies representing lawyers, architects, dentists, accountants, and social workers. Castro, who had originally relied on the support of the poor, was now gaining the backing of the influential middle classes.[citation needed]

The United States supplied Batista with planes, ships, tanks and the latest technology, such as napalm, which he used against the insurgency. However, in March 1958, the U.S. announced it would stop selling arms to the Cuban government.[78] Soon after, the U.S. imposed an arms embargo, further weakening the government's position,[79][page needed] although land owners and others who benefited from the government continued to support Batista.[35]

More:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fulgencio_Batista

P.S. As a side-note, a Cuban newspaper publisher, rancher, US-educated maniac and good friend of Fulgencio Batista, Rolando Masferrer sponsored his own private army (death squad) called "Masferrer's Tigers" which roamed the streets, sneaking down political dissidents to be tortured and murdered and used for purposes of terrorism. Death squads were also known to take their prisoners to open spaces where they were forced to dig their own graves before being killed, even forcing some of them to get inside the coarse bags which held seeds, or other agricultural products (called "gunny sacks" in the US) , doused in gasoline, and set on fire. Each unique terror stunt was created to strike panic among the survivors whom they expected to pass the word until the whole country became afraid to move, paralyzed with fear.

Around the city of Santiago de Cuba, death squads picked up those dissidents, quartered them, and hung their body parts from trees where the citizens would be sure to see them. Mothers of these young men appeared in a march down the streets of Santiago de Cuba, carrying signs for the US ambassador, who was visiting the town, to see, as they ran to beg him to intercede with Fulgencio Batista. The police responded by hosing them all down with fire hoses.









US Ambassador Earl Smith arrived



Police with fire hoses arrived

The Cuban Revolution
Santiago de Cuba Protest
(1957)

http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/santiago-protest.htm

(This happened BEFORE the revolution.)

U.S. reporters covering
the Cuban Revolution

http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/reporters.htm