How to Pronounce Fulgencio Batista

Meaning and Context

Fulgencio Batista was a pivotal and controversial figure in 20th-century Cuban history, serving as the country's de facto military leader from 1933 to 1940 and as its elected president from 1940 to 1944 before seizing power again via a military coup in 1952. His second period of rule, a U.S.-backed authoritarian regime marked by corruption, economic disparity, and brutal repression of dissent, directly fueled the Cuban Revolution. The revolutionary movement, led by Fidel Castro and Che Guevara, successfully overthrew Batista's government on January 1, 1959, forcing him into permanent exile and paving the way for the establishment of a communist state under Castro. Batista's legacy is intrinsically tied to the pre-revolution era, the history of U.S.-Cuba relations, and the socio-political conditions that gave rise to one of the Cold War's most significant conflicts.

Common Mistakes and Alternative Spellings

The name "Fulgencio Batista" is most commonly spelled as presented, but several frequent errors and variations occur. The most common typo is the misspelling of his first name as "Fulgencio," often by omitting the 'g'. Another frequent error is the misspelling of his surname as "Bautista," likely due to the phonetic similarity to the common Spanish surname and the word for "Baptist." Some historical texts may use his full name, "Rubén Fulgencio Batista y Zaldívar," though the simplified "Fulgencio Batista" is standard. In non-Spanish contexts, accents are often dropped, though the correct Spanish spelling includes an accent on the 'i' in "Fulgencio" (Fulgencio). Confusion also sometimes arises with the spelling of his middle name, which is occasionally incorrectly rendered as "Fulgencio."

Example Sentences

The lavish hotels and casinos of 1950s Havana flourished under the corrupt and permissive rule of Fulgencio Batista, even as poverty deepened in the countryside.

Historians often cite Batista's military coup in 1952 as the catalyst that radicalized Fidel Castro and pushed him toward armed revolution.

After the triumph of the rebel army, Fulgencio Batista fled Cuba for the Dominican Republic in the early hours of New Year's Day, 1959.

Many of Batista's former military officers were tried and executed following the revolution, a stark reflection of the regime's brutal repression.

The U.

S.

government's support for the Batista dictatorship became a central point of criticism for the new revolutionary government in Havana.

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