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The military coup led by Fulgencio Batista on March 10, 1952 not only altered the immediate course of Cuban politics: it opened a historical cycle from which the country has still not been able to emerge.
That dawn, the troops took control of the main centers of power, constitutional guarantees were suspended, and the elections that were to be held a few months later were canceled.
With that act, the institutional framework that had defined Cuban political life since the enactment of the 1940 Constitution was broken, one of the most advanced texts of its time in Latin America.
The Magna Carta established the separation of powers, recognized broad social rights, and guaranteed periodic competitive elections. Although the Cuban Republic faced serious issues—political corruption, economic inequalities, and social tensions—the country had mechanisms for democratic alternation and public freedoms comparable to those of many Western nations at the time.
Batista's coup interrupted that process. His military government ruled by decree, restricted political freedoms, and faced growing armed and civil opposition.
However, the Batista dictatorship, while authoritarian and repressive, developed within a context that was still pluralistic, where political sectors, independent press, and spaces for opposition existed.
Unlike the totalitarian system established after 1959, in 1950s Cuba, there were still institutional and legal margins that allowed for some functioning of political life and civil society.
A revealing example was the amnesty granted in 1955 to Fidel Castro and the participants in the attack on the Moncada barracks in 1953. After being tried and sentenced by the Cuban justice system, those responsible for the attack were released as part of a political measure aimed at easing internal tensions.
That decision allowed Castro to leave prison, seek exile in Mexico, reorganize his movement, and prepare the expedition of the yacht Granma, which would initiate the guerrilla struggle against Batista himself.
That episode illustrates the differences between an authoritarian regime and the totalitarian system that would later be established in Cuba.
The amnesty of 1955, unimaginable under the political model established by Castro following his rise to power, reflects that even under the Batista dictatorship political mechanisms and social pressures remained that could influence the government's decisions.
In post-1959 Cuba, on the contrary, the elimination of the opposition, absolute control of institutions, and the absence of political pluralism completely closed off those spaces.
However, the regime referred to by Castroism as the "Cuban Revolution" promised to restore democracy and the Constitution of 1940. But what followed was a radically different process.
In a few years, the new revolutionary power eliminated political parties, subordinated all institutions to Castro's leadership, and built a one-party system inspired by the communist models of Eastern Europe. The State began to control the main economic sectors, and political life became monopolized by the Communist Party of Cuba.
The early years of the regime were marked by severe repression. Revolutionary tribunals held summary trials against military personnel and civilians associated with the previous government. Hundreds of people were executed following proceedings that international human rights organizations have criticized for the lack of legal safeguards.
As time passed, the system consolidated itself as a totalitarian regime that infiltrated all areas of society. Freedom of the press disappeared, independent organizations were banned, and any political opposition was criminalized.
Repression was not only evident in prisons or political trials. It was also reflected in the network of surveillance and informants established at the community level (CDR), as well as in the continuous exodus of Cubans who, for decades, have left the island in search of freedoms and opportunities in other countries.
Since the early exiles of the 1960s to the Mariel crisis in 1980 and the balsero crisis in 1994, the country has experienced massive waves of migration. Thousands of people have lost their lives attempting to cross the Florida Straits or the Caribbean routes in flimsy vessels. Those who have disappeared at sea are part of a silent tragedy that accompanies the recent history of Cuba.
At the same time, the revolutionary regime engaged the country in armed conflicts abroad. During the Cold War, the Cuban government sent troops to Africa, particularly to Angola and Ethiopia, in military operations that cost the lives of thousands of other Cuban soldiers.
The Castro regime's penetration in Latin America has also been extensively documented, from Ernesto Guevara's guerrilla activities in Bolivia, the interference in the Chilean government of Salvador Allende, to the takeover of the Venezuelan state and cooperation in repression under the Chavista dictatorship, among many other examples.
These decisions reflected the international strategy of the Soviet bloc and reinforced Havana's ideological alignment with the global communist project.
Over the decades, a political system was established on the island without free elections or party competition. The current socialist Constitution explicitly establishes the "irrevocable" nature of the system and recognizes the Communist Party as the leading political force in society.
From a historical perspective, the outcome is a continuous institutional break that began with the coup of 1952 and deepened after 1959. For 74 years, Cubans have not been able to freely choose among different political projects or fully enjoy the civic liberties that existed during the republican era.
However, the current international context suggests that the country may be approaching a moment of change.
The structural economic crisis, the collapse of the state production model, and the growing social discontent have weakened the regime. Additionally, there is increasing international pressure, especially from the United States, which has intensified its policy towards Havana in pursuit of a political transition.
In Washington, there is an increasing open discussion about the need to promote democratic changes in Cuba. The U.S. government has intensified economic, diplomatic, and political pressure on the regime while continuing to focus on the human rights situation on the island.
This context also coincides with a younger generation of Cubans who have lost their fear of expressing their discontent, as evidenced by the massive protests of July 2021 and other subsequent demonstrations.
The combination of economic crisis, internal political fatigue, and international pressure is creating a scenario that many analysts view as potentially decisive.
Seventy-four years after that military coup that disrupted the constitutional order of the Republic, Cuba once again faces a historical crossroads.
The question that arises today is whether the country will finally be able to close that long cycle that began in 1952 and recover the civil and political rights that have remained suspended, buried, and forgotten for decades.
The outcome of that process will not only shape the future of the island but also signify the end of one of the longest periods of authoritarianism in the Western Hemisphere.
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