DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Did you know that Fulgencio Batista, the former Cuban president and dictator, was a regular vacationer and resident of Daytona Beach in the 1940s and 50s?
Batista, known as El Hombre, meaning “The Man,” led a rebellion against dictator Gerardo Machada as a young sergeant in 1933, according to an article on the PBS website. He also helped force the resignation of provisional president Ramón Grau San Martín.
Recommended Videos
He went on to be elected the President of Cuba in 1940 where he served until 1944 when Ramón Grau San Martín resumed power.
Batista then left Cuba to live in Daytona Beach.
[EXCLUSIVE: Become a News 6 Insider (it’s FREE) | PINIT! Share your photos]
Batista and his wife purchased a home located at 129 North Halifax Ave. in Daytona Beach for $82,500, according to the St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church. The church now owns the property and built their church where the home used to be.
In 1952, Batista saw an opportunity to return to government with new elections approaching in Cuba.
Batista was running a a distant third in the election and on March 10, 1952, he seized the government in a coup, which helped spark the Cuban Revolution and eventually led to the rise of Fidel Castro.
“Once Batista forced his way into power, he voided the constitution and paved the way for an era of government corruption,” according to the U.S. Department of Defense.
On December 11, 1958, U.S. Ambassador Earl Smith visited Batista at his home in Cuba. During that meeting, Batista was told that the U.S. would no longer support his regime. Batista asked to return to Daytona Beach where he owned a home, but the ambassador suggested he head to Spain, instead.
In the same year, Batista left Cuba to live the rest of his life in Spain and Portugal where he died in 1973.
Back to Batista’s connection to Daytona Beach
According to James “Zach” Zacharias, senior curator of history at The Museum of Arts & Sciences in Daytona Beach, the museum is home to The Cuban Foundation Museum, which bills itself as “one of the most important collections of Cuban fine and folk art outside of Cuba.”
“So the nice thing about the Cuban gallery is, it has every type of artwork that you could think of. It has portraits, it has landscapes, it has seascapes, it has folk art, it has jewelry, it has furniture, it has lithographs. So that’s, that’s the really nice thing about it is a pretty diverse collection of art,” Zacharias said.
According to Zacharias, Batista picked Daytona Beach as a second home because nobody knew him here and he loved to fish in the St. Johns River.
“And so he just kind of fell in love with the area,” Zacharias said.
Batista’s connection to Daytona Beach became so ingrained that the city held what was called “Batista Day” where the soon-to-be dictator would ride through town in a parade, waving at those who came out to celebrate him.
“In gracious recognition of Honorable Fulgencio Batista y Zaldivar, President of Cuba (and Honorary citizen of The City of Daytona Beach, Florida), for his leadership of and achievements for his nation, the City of Daytona Beach, Florida, by its Mayor, hereby designated March 24th, 1956 President Batista Day in said city as a day of celebration and honor to President Batista, and cordially invites him and Mrs. Batista and his friends to attend said celebration.”
Signed Francis W. Morrison, former mayor of Daytona Beach, on Nov. 1, 1955
President Bautista presented the mayor with a “beautiful silken flag of the Republic of Cuba” and a bronze plaque which read:
“Here, in Daytona Beach, Mrs. Batista and I lived in the warmth of your hospitality; here we found relaxation and the opportunity to escape the rigid demands of formality; to be ourselves among friendly people. You took us into your homes and your hearts, and no man can ask for a greater compliment. No people can offer a stranger more than that.”
Signed Fulgencio Batista Y Zaldivar
Museum officials said that in 1957, Batista gave much of his collection of Cuban art “to the city and people of Daytona Beach.”
A special reunion
Juan Junco is an 82-year-old volunteer docent at The Museum of Arts and Sciences — the same museum that houses the Cuban Collection.
Junco attended the Belen Jesuit Preparatory School in Havana as a child. The school was founded in 1854 by Queen Isabel II of Spain. But in 1961, Castro confiscated the school and expelled the Jesuit faculty who had to flee Cuba for their lives.
The school would be re-established in Miami in the same year. It now sits on a 33-acre site and since its relocation to South Florida, more than 8,000 young men have graduated from the school.
But back to Junco. Much like students in the U.S., class rings were popular for students at the school and at the time and boys would often gift their rings to their girlfriends. Junco proudly gave his ring to his girlfriend Hilda at the time.
Junco learned that he had to escape Cuba when he was 18 years old after writing a paper at the school criticizing the new government under Fidel Castro. He found out that he would be imprisoned, so he fled the island on Feb. 23, 1961, with with the help of the Spanish embassy and just $5.00 in his pocket. Junco and three other men boarded a ship – the Guadalupe – in Güines, Cuba, and sailed to La Coruña, Spain.
[EXCLUSIVE: Become a News 6 Insider (it’s FREE) | PINIT! Share your photos]
Before leaving Cuba, Junco told Hilda he wanted his class ring back. As she was taking it off, he pulled an engagement ring out of his pocket and proposed.
He left everyone that he knew and loved behind, not knowing what the future would hold. He never saw his mother or father again.
Junco remembers arriving in Spain and seeing the other passengers being warmly welcomed by friends and family. He said he went to the other side of the ship and started to pray and around the same time, a priest appeared to welcome him. Unbeknownst to him, the Spanish embassy and the Jesuits were awaiting his arrival.
Junco eventually made his way to the U.S. where Hilda eventually joined him in New York. They are still married to this day, proud parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents.
After working his way from nothing, Junco eventually became a successful accountant before retiring in Daytona Beach.
“But out of all the jobs I have, the best job I have was being a docent at the museum,” Junco said recently.
He recalled a time when he was a lowly messenger and mail boy on Wall Street, barely surviving. Hilda was pregnant with their first child and they lived in a roach-infested apartment in New York City.
Coworkers asked him his plans for Thanksgiving, and he said he didn’t feel very thankful, preferring a meal of beans and rice to a traditional American holiday meal.
Fate sometimes throws a curveball and Hilda soon went into labor. Their first son was born on Thanksgiving Day and the hospital presented them with a turkey dinner as a celebration.
Junco has been full of thanks ever since, living the American dream.
Junco tells the history of Cuba and Batista much better than I can. He’s lived the story and still continues to do so through educating the public about his home country’s art.
The Cuban Collection at the museum offers an important link to the country that many of them can never return to.
There are about 1.5 million Cubans in the United States, according to the Pew Research Center. More than two-thirds of Cubans live in Florida, with Miami-Dade County having the highest concentration in the state followed by Broward, Hillsborough, and Palm Beach.
“And in Daytona, you have two Cubans. My wife and me,” Junco jokingly said. “You don’t have too many.”
Often, Cubans from South Florida will make the trek to Volusia County to see the museum’s art collection. Junco will gather the group in an auditorium at the museum and give a presentation before they start their tour.
On one such occasion, he was a little miffed that a visiting group from Miami was around two hours late arriving at the museum for one of his tours. Junco relaxed a bit when he found out the group that would be arriving was originally from Güines – the same Cuban city where he fled.
As Junco was giving his speech to around 50 people, a man in the audience stood up and said “Those three guys, they were my friends.” The man in attendance said he was standing on the dock in 1961 waving goodbye to his friends – the exact same day Junco and those three men fled Cuba.
“I cried, he cried,” Junco said of the reunion, 46 years in the making.
Junco doesn’t remember the man’s full name, only that his last name was Gonzalez.
That man helped Junco get in touch with the three men over 40 years later. Two of the men have since passed away, but Junco still speaks to the remaining member of that trip, Francisco Pita, a retired doctor.
Junco recalls writing Pita a letter that read in part “Thank you for helping me with my suitcases in 1961 in La Coruña, Spain.”
“When the boat arrived, being that we had no money, they helped me with the suitcases,” Junco remembers.
Junco also still keeps in contact and meets with his former classmates at Belen Jesuit Preparatory School. Only around 50 of those men are still living, but Junco said they were all able to successfully leave Cuba, migrating to the U.S. or other parts of the world.
Like in life, some things come full circle, like the school ring that still wraps around Junco’s finger.
He will proudly tell you that he is the only classmate from the school who still has his ring – his lucky ring as he calls it.
The Museum of Arts & Sciences is gearing up for two new exhibits that opening soon. They are: Audobon’s Birds of Florida, and A Vision of Florida: The Photographic Art of Clyde Butcher. Both open Sept. 21.
To learn about all of the upcoming events and programs at the museum, click here.
Get today’s headlines in minutes with Your Florida Daily: