Wife of former Cuban dictator Batista dies in West Palm Beach

Posted on Wed, Oct. 04, 2006

Wife of former Cuban dictator Batista dies in West Palm Beach
Associated Press

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Marta Fernandez de Batista, the widow of former
Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista, has died at her home, her son said
Wednesday. She was 82.

She died at her West Palm Beach home on Monday, Roberto Batista told The
Associated Press. She had suffered a heart attack on Sept. 8 and was
hospitalized until last week, when she returned home under hospice care,
her son said.

Born Marta Fernandez Miranda, she was Batista's second wife. She earned
a reputation as a lover of the arts and supporter of the needy, both in
Cuba and the United States, giving to South Florida charities that
fought cancer and leukemia, her son said.

Her husband was pushed out of power by Fidel Castro's rebels more than
47 years ago, leaving Havana in the middle of the night on January 1,
1959. The former dictator, then 58 years old, fled first to the
Dominican Republic, then Portugal, and finally Spain, where he died in 1973.

His government had captured Fidel and his younger brother Raul Castro -
currently the island's acting president while the elder Castro recovers
from intestinal surgery - in 1953 after a failed attack on the Moncada
military barracks in eastern Cuba. Both were jailed, but Batista was
pressured to release the two under general amnesty two years later.

Fulgencio Batista had a home in Daytona Beach and donated an extensive
art collection to the city. His wife had lived in Palm Beach County
since the 1980s.

"She always talked about being able to see Cuba again. Of course, that
never materialized," Roberto Batista said. "She was very fond of her own
people that she loved dearly. She always spoke highly of Cubans here,
Cubans on the island and Cubans everywhere in the world."

Marta Fernandez de Batista is to be buried with her husband in Madrid
after a Mass in West Palm Beach, her son said.

In addition to Roberto, she is also survived by her sons Jorge Luis
Batista and Fulgencio Jose Batista and her daughter, Marta Maria Malouf
Batista.

The family will receive friends from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday at
Quattlebaum Funeral Home in West Palm Beach. A Mass will follow at 12:30
p.m. at St. Juliana Catholic Church in West Palm Beach.

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