“All my father ever wanted was to live in a free Cuba,” said his youngest son, George. “That is why he supported Castro. He just wanted Cuba to be free.” How could supporting Castro free Cuba? “Cuba was anything but free before Castro won the revolution,” said George. “[Fulgencio] Batista was a tyrant.” Carlos Carbonell was born in Havana, Cuba on September 23, 1896. In the 1920s, he moved to Ybor City to work in the cigar factories where he met and married Isabel Toledo. The couple moved back to Cuba to start a family in the 1930s, where their three children were born–Hector, George and Daisy. Then, in the mid-1940s, they moved back to Tampa.
Cuba was a terror-filled time in Cuba. He controlled the Cuban people through fear. Freedom of the press and speech were oppressed, as Batista “dealt with” those who spoke against his government. “I had a cousin who was killed by Batista’s police for demonstrating in the street against the way he ran the government,” said George. Batista buddied up to the American mafia, allowing them to purchase controlling interest in Cuba’s luxurious hotel and casino industry. American gangsters paid Batista $250,000 under the table to buy into or open a casino, and then had to give him a percentage of the slot machines. In return, the Cuban police turned the other cheek as the gangsters peddled sex from their establishments, turning the Cuban women into prostitutes sold to tourists. Sugar was the
“All my father ever wanted was to live in a free Cuba,” said his youngest son, George. “That is why he supported Castro. He just wanted Cuba to be free.” Carlos did not lose touch with his native country, though. He followed the political situation closely through firsthand accounts from family and friends living in Cuba and through Ybor City’s La Gaceta newspaper, which was then primarily a Spanish newspaper covering news from Spain and Cuba, the crux of Ybor City’s Latin community. What he heard and read about most was the fear that Batista instilled in the residents of the island nation. Batista had been Cuban president from 1940–1944 and was running for the office again in 1952. Realizing he was going to lose the election to Roberto Agramonte, Batista, backed by the Cuban army he once led as general, staged a coup and forcefully seized the presidency. Batista’s reign as “president” of
official cash crop of Cuba, but its real moneymakers were alcohol, gambling and sex. “It was a disgusting time in Cuba’s history,” said George. “My father was very political, always paying attention to what was going on. He wanted to help his country.” On July 26, 1953, a young rebel by the name of Fidel Castro staged an unsuccessful coup in Cuba. Dozens of his revolutionaries were either killed in the coup attempt or tortured to death following their capture. Castro was captured but his life was spared. Instead, he was imprisoned.
Roberto Agramonte (center) and behind him to the left in a tie, a young Fidel Castro.
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Cigar City Magazine
Fulgencio Batista