The Cuban Democratic Experience: The Autentico Years, 1944-1952 (review)

The Cuban Democratic Experience: The Auténtico Years, 1944-1952. By Charles D. Ameringer. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2000. Notes. Bibliography. Index. 229 pp. Cloth, $49.95.

Written with a touch of nostalgia for a lost opportunity of democracy and civil liberties, Charles Ameringer's The Cuban Democratic Experience recounts Cuba's political history during the 1944-52 years, when the island was ruled by the Partido Revolucionario Cubano Auténtico. This party, which Ameringer characterizes as nationalist and social democratic, was one of the byproducts of the so-called revolution of 1933 against the dictatorship of Gerardo Machado. Despite its crucial role in the politics of the second republic, the party, its main leaders, programmatic documents, and policies have received little attention from historians. This is the gap that Ameringer seeks to fill. As the author explain, his "intention is to examine the eight-year period of Auténtico government in its entirety to achieve a sense of the only time in their history when Cubans had the opportunity to be free" (p. 15).

The book accomplishes its goals. In a well-written, straight chronological narrative that covers mostly the main political events of these years, Ameringer reviews the presidencies of Ramón Grau San Martín (1944-48) and Carlos Prío Socarrás (1948-52) with great detail. Some of the themes explored by the author coincide with those found in the available literature about the period, such as widespread public malfeasance, gang-related violence and, particularly under Prío, virulent anticommunism. However, The Cuban Democratic Experience delves into less traditional themes as well. Of particular interest is the discussion of the Auténticos' firm foreign policies against dictatorial regimes such as those of Trujillo in the Dominican Republic, Somoza in Nicaragua, and, after 1948, Marcos Pérez Jiménez in Venezuela. Although the United States opposed the Auténticos's antidictatorial policies as "interventionist" and favored instead continental "unity" in the struggle against communism, during the administrations of both Grau and Prío, Cuba became a safe haven for political refugees from the circum Caribbean area. For instance, when a military coup overthrew the social democratic government of Rómulo Gallegos in Venezuela, he and other members of Acción Democrática went to Cuba, where they engaged in open conspiratorial activities against the military junta. And although the United States urged the Latin American nations to maintain normal diplomatic relations with Venezuela, Prío refused to extend recognition to the new government.

Aside from their independent policies in the area of inter-American relations, the traditional picture of the Auténticos as an utter political failure stands after reading Ameringer's book. The author emphasizes that they "gave Cuba a period of freedom it had not experienced before or, up to now, since" (p. 185), yet the implications of this freedom for different social groups are never explored. Furthermore, as the author explains, even within this "freedom" there were important limitations: the communists were frequently harassed and repressed; the violent political gangs remained active with the support of the state; corrupt public officials were not prosecuted. Rather, embezzlement reached new heights under the Auténticos. So did impunity. Between 1944 and 1952 the Cuban government spent one-quarter of the national budget on education, yet illiteracy increased. The progressive Constitution of 1940 embodied the ideals of the 1933 "revolution" that the Auténticos claimed to incarnate, yet for the most part they failed to implement the constitutional program, even after enjoying the majority in Congress.

Many of these shortcomings are well established in the existing literature. Although TheCuban Democratic Experience adds valuable factual information and thematic breadth to the study of this period, the book would have benefited from a more active dialogue with the available scholarship about the republic, produced both within the island and abroad. This would have given readers the opportunity...