Progressive Action Party

The Progressive Action Party (Spanish: Partido de Acción Progresista, PAP) was a Cuban political party led by Fulgencio Batista. The party was founded in 1949, after the 1948 general elections, under the name of Unitary Action Party (Spanish: Partido de Acción Unitaria, PAU). In 1952, certain to lose the election, Batista made a coup d'etat by seizing the Presidency.

Progressive Action Party

Partido de Acción Progresista
AbbreviationPAP
LeaderFulgencio Batista
Founded1949 (1949)
Dissolved1959 (1959)
Split fromLiberal Party of Cuba
HeadquartersHavana
IdeologyAuthoritarianism
National conservatism
Economic liberalism
Political positionRight-wing

The party also ran in the elections of 1954 and 1958, winning always due to the early withdrawal of opponents, as well as of the strong electoral fraud.

The party was based on a combination of strong conservatism and economic liberalism on a large scale, to attract American capital in Cuba. This led to a high level of corruption and poverty plaguing the country. Other bulwark of the party was anti-communism, not only because of the alignment with the United States but also because most of the members of the anti-Batista left-wing nationalist 26th of July Movement could be branded as Communists, including Fidel Castro and Camilo Cienfuegos, along with genuine communists like Raul Castro and Che Guevara. Batista's authoritarian rule and repression in response to Castro's movement led to the deaths of 20,000 Cubans through torture and Extrajudicial killing.

The party was dissolved following the Cuban revolution of 1959, which ousted Batista causing it to flee abroad and led to the establishment of the revolutionary government of Fidel Castro, which became a communist regime in 1961.

Electoral history

Presidential elections
Election Party candidate Votes % Result
1954 Fulgencio Batista 1,451,753 Elected Y
1958 Andrés Rivero Agüero 428,166 70.40% Elected Y

Note

Andrés Rivero Agüero was unable to take office due to the Cuban Revolution

House of Representatives elections
Election Party leader Seats +/– Position
1950 Fulgencio Batista
4 / 66
 4 4th
1954
60 / 130
 56 1st
1958
65 / 130
 5 1st

Senate elections
Election Party leader Votes % Seats +/– Position
1954 Fulgencio Batista (part of the National Progressive Coalition[lower-alpha 1])
36 / 54
 36 1st
  1. The National Progressive Coalition was an alliance of PAP, the Radical Union, the Republican Democratic Party and the Liberal Party.


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.