Liliputin-4470

The problem of being a dictator of a banana republic is, that you can always slip on a banana peel ..."
Fulgencio Batista

Liliputins. What, the heck, is this?
http://stihi.ru/2021/11/24/7101


***

banana republic
noun
Usually Disparaging.

a small, poor country, often reliant on a single export or limited resource, governed by an authoritarian regime and characterized by corruption and economic exploitation by foreign corporations conspiring with local government officials.

any exploitative government that functions poorly for its citizenry while disproportionately benefiting a corrupt elite group or individual.

***
slip on a banana peel
slip on a banana skin (redirected from slip on a banana peel)
slip on a banana skin
To make a silly, embarrassing, or avoidable mistake.
They were completely dominating the game until the quarterback slipped on a banana peel and threw an interception, which allowed the momentum to shift in the opposing team's favor.
See also: banana, on, skin, slip
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2022 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
slip on a banana skin or slip on a banana peel BRITISH, INFORMAL
COMMON If an important or famous person slips on a banana skin or slips on a banana peel, they say or do something that makes them look stupid and causes them problems. Most of the nation would enjoy seeing mighty Manchester United slip on a banana skin in front of millions. You can be walking across Westminster Bridge full of noble thoughts at one moment and slipping on a banana peel the next. Note: You can also call something that causes someone to look stupid or have problems a banana skin or a banana peel. Insiders watched in horrified fascination as the President lurched from one banana peel to another. Note: Comedies and cartoons traditionally show a character slipping on a banana skin, falling over, and looking foolish.
See also: banana, on, skin, slip
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed. © HarperCollins Publishers 2012
slip on a banana skin make a silly and embarrassing mistake.
See also: banana, on, skin, slip
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017
slip on a ba;nana skin (informal) (usually of a public figure) make a stupid mistake: The new minister slipped on a banana skin before he had been in the job a week.
See also: banana, on, skin, slip
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017
See also:
a banana skin
slip on
silly as a wheel
(as) silly as a wheel
(as) silly as a goose
silly as a goose
silly
fall flat on your face
fall on face

***
Fulgencio Batista
Fulgencio Batista y Zaldivar; born Rubin Zaldivar;[2] January 16, 1901 – August 6, 1973) was a Cuban military officer and politician who served as the elected president of Cuba from 1940 to 1944 and as a military dictator from 1952 to 1959, until he was overthrown in the Cuban Revolution.

Batista initially rose to power as part of the 1933 Revolt of the Sergeants, which overthrew the provisional government of Carlos Manuel de Cispedes y Quesada. Batista then appointed himself chief of the armed forces, with the rank of colonel, and effectively controlled the five-member "pentarchy" that functioned as the collective head of state. He maintained control through a string of puppet presidents until 1940, when he was elected president on a populist platform.[3][4] He then instated the 1940 Constitution of Cuba[5] and served until 1944. After finishing his term, Batista moved to Florida, returning to Cuba to run for president in 1952. Facing certain electoral defeat, he led a military coup against President Carlos Prio Socarr;s that pre-empted the election.[6]

Back in power and receiving financial, military and logistical support from the United States government,[7][8] Batista suspended the 1940 Constitution and revoked most political liberties, including the right to strike. He then aligned with the wealthiest landowners who owned the largest sugar plantations, and presided over a stagnating economy that widened the gap between rich and poor Cubans.[9] Eventually it reached the point where most of the sugar industry was in U.S. hands, and foreigners owned 70% of the arable land.[10] As such, Batista's repressive government then began to systematically profit from the exploitation of Cuba's commercial interests, by negotiating lucrative relationships both with the American Mafia, who controlled the drug, gambling, and prostitution businesses in Havana, and with large U.S.-based multinational companies who were awarded lucrative contracts.[9][11] To quell the growing discontent amongst the populace—which was subsequently displayed through frequent student riots and demonstrations—Batista established tighter censorship of the media, while also utilizing his Bureau for the Repression of Communist Activities secret police to carry out wide-scale violence, torture and public executions. These murders mounted in 1957, as socialist ideas became more influential. Many people were killed, with estimates ranging from hundreds to about 20,000 people killed.[12][13]

These tactics ultimately failed to quell unrest and instead were the catalyst for more widespread resistance. For two years (December 1956 – December 1958) Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement and other rebelling elements led an urban- and rural-based guerrilla uprising against Batista's government, which culminated in his eventual defeat by rebels under the command of Che Guevara at the Battle of Santa Clara on New Year's Day 1959. Batista immediately fled the island with an amassed personal fortune to the Dominican Republic, where strongman and previous military ally Rafael Trujillo held power. Batista eventually found political asylum in Ant;nio Salazar's Portugal, where he first lived on the island of Madeira and then in Estoril. He was involved in business activities in Spain and was staying there in Guadalmina at the time of his death from a heart attack in 1973.[14]