Anibal Escalante

Anibal Escalante
Nationality	Cuban
Occupation	newspaper editor, politician
Political party	Communist Party of Cuba

Anibal Escalante (1909 – 11 August 1977) was a Cuban communist and political organizer. An early leader within the Popular Socialist Party (PSP), he briefly held national office in Cuba following the Cuban revolution but was purged due, in part, to his "old-line" Marxist orthodoxy. He was later imprisoned over allegations he was plotting with the Soviet Union to orchestrate the overthrow of the Fidel Castro-led Cuban government.

Anibal Escalante was born in 1909, the son of a Cuban independence fighter who fought under the command of Calixto Garcia.

Working with Blas Roca and others, Escalante was an early influence in the formation of the Popular Socialist Party (originally called the Communist Party of Cuba, though not to be confused with the party organized by the merger of the PSP and 26 July Movement in the 1960s). Beginning in 1938, with the legalization of the PSP by the Cuban government of Fulgencio Batista, Escalante was editor of Hoy, the party's official newspaper.

In the period immediately following the 1959 success of the Cuban revolution, Aníbal Escalante occupied a leading role in the Popular Socialist Party. However, its Marxist orthodoxy and history of cooperation with the deposed government of Fulgencio Batista gave it a skeptical public reputation. Largely sidelined in national politics, Escalante and the PSP took a backseat to Fidel Castro and his 26 July Movement.

Following the Bay of Pigs invasion in April 1961, Cuba appealed to the Soviet Union for military assistance. In exchange for aid, the PSP was merged with the 26 July Movement and the Revolutionary Directorate of 13 March into the Integrated Revolutionary Organizations (ORI), predecessor to the Communist Party of Cuba, and Escalante, who enjoyed support from Moscow, elevated to its secretary. According to Juanita Castro, some referred to this period as the "Anibalato". Juanita Castro noted that, during this period, "his picture ran in the papers more frequently than Fidel's and more Escalante people were finding their way into positions of power."

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