These included Dos gardenias and Pa' fricasé los pollos, which were based on Cuban music. Among several other contemporary records were: El juego de la vida, El 5 y 6, El ajiaco, El niño majadero, Ramoncito campeón and El tíbiri tábara. On March 10, 1952, Fulgencio Batista organized a successful coup d'état and took control of the island's government. Santos, known for his Puerto Rican independentist preferences, was never in the good graces of the dictator. He made his nationalistic and democratic views well known throughout Latin America. As many people during those days, he viewed Fidel Castro's fight against Batista very favorably. In 1958, forbidden by Batista from returning to the island, he composed the song "Sierra Maestra", which borrowed parts of the official hymn of the 26th of July Movement. Santos donated the profits from "Sierra Maestra" to the Cuban Revolution. Return to Puerto Rico He returned to the island later that year and began an international tour on 1953, among the countries visited were Venezuela, Colombia and Mexico. In 1954, he returned to Puerto Rico and performed in hotels located in San Juan before continuing his tour throughout America which extended from 1955 to 1956. The tour concluded with a presentation in New York and he is returned to Cuba. Later that year he visited Ecuador for the first time in his artistic career. Here he was contracted to perform in a theater named "Apolo", where he worked with a band named the "Costa Rica Swing Boys". During his third presentation Santos lost his voice without completing the scheduled show, he tried to explain the situation to the public but was unable to calm them down and a riot erupted. While in Ecuador he composed two successful singles, Cataplum pa' and Cautiverio. Late in 1956, Santos recorded with a Venezuelan record label named "Discomoda". In 1959, he briefly returned to Cuba. It was during this trip that he confronted Raul Castro and Ernesto "Che" Guevara about the political nature of the Cuban Revolution he had supported. He left Cuba abruptly, never to return, when Castro and Guevara failed to convince him that the Cuban Revolution was "nationalistic". A self proclaimed "anti-communist", he explained that he had supported the Cuban Revolution because its leadership had assured him that it was not communist. On July 22, 1972 he performed in the inauguration ceremony of El Balcon del Pueblo, a