Carlos Prío Socarrás
Carlos Prío Socarrás (July 14, 1903 – April 5, 1977) was President of Cuba
from 1948 until he was deposed by a military coup led by
Fulgencio Batista on March 10, 1952, three months before new elections were to be held [1].
Youth
Prío was born in Bahía Honda, Pinar del Río Province, Cuba (son of Francisco Prío Rivas and Maria de Regla Socarrás Socarrás [2]) on July 14, 1903 [3]. He was the second of four children. His elder brother, Francisco Prío Socarrás, was a Cuban Senator and his younger brother, Antonio Prío Socarrás, served as his Minister of Housing. His sister, Maria Regla Prío Socarrás, served in the Cuban House of Representatives.
In his youth, he graduated from Colegio de Belén. He then studied law in the University of Havana and became an attorney. As a student leader he was jailed and exiled for fighting against Gerardo Machado's government and was president of the Directorio Estudiantil in 1930. He was also sought as a fugitive following the and took to exile in 1935.
Governance
In 1940 he was elected senator of Pinar del Río province when fellow Partido Auténtico member [4] Ramón Grau became president. During the Grau administration he served turns as Minister of Public Works, Minister of Labor and Prime Minister. On July 1, 1948 he was elected president of Cuba as a member of the Paritdo Auténtico [5].
The eight years under Grau and Prío, were, according to Charles Ameringer,
[...] unique in Cuban history. They were a time of constitutional order and political freedom. They were not 'golden years' by any means, but in two elections (1944 and 1948), Cubans has the opportunity to express their desire for a rule of civil liberties, primacy of Cuban culture, and achievement of economic independence. If there were sharp contradictions in Cuban society under the Autenticos, the circumstances differed only in degree from the complexities and dynamics encountered in free societies everywhere (how often did Cubans compare Havana with Chicago?).[1]
Prío, called El presidente cordial ("The Cordial President"), was committed to a rule marked by civility, primarily in its respect for freedom of expression. Several public works projects and the establishment of a National Bank and Tribunal of Accounts count among his succeesses.
However, violence among political factions and reports of theft and self-enrichment in the government ranks marred Prío's term. The Prío administration increasingly came to be perceived by the public as ineffectual in the face of violence and corruption, much as the Grau administration before it.
With elections scheduled for the middle of 1952, rumors surfaced of a planned military coup by long-shot presidential contender Fulgencio Batista. Prio, seeing no constitutional basis to act, did not do so. The rumors proved to be true. On March 10, 1952, Batista and his collaborators seized military and police commands throughout the country and occupied major radio and TV stations. Batista assumed power when Prio, failing to mount a resistance, boarded a plane and went into exile.
According to Arthur M. Schlesinger, Prio later said of his presidency,
They say that I was a terrible president of Cuba. That may be true. But I was the best president Cuba ever had.[2]
Exile
During the second Batista government (1952-1958), Prio organized a number of failed attempts to overthrow Batista and was arrested in the US for these activities. [6]
As part of his opposition to Batista, Prio met clandestinely with Fidel Castro in Texas in 1956, giving him $50,000 to buy arms and transportation [7]. Prio returned to Cuba with the ouster of Batista at the start of 1959. However, Castro's consolidation of power, beginning with the arrest of revolutionary commander Huber Matos for dissent, would prompt the former president to break with the Revolution. He left the island toward the end of the Eisenhower Administration [8].
Personal life
He first married Gina Karel and they had one daughter, Rocio Guadalupe Prio-Socarras-Karell. He then married María Antonieta Tarrero de Prío in Miami, and they had two daughters, Maria Antonetta Prio-Tarrero (b. 1945 in Cuba and married to Cesar Odio, former City Manager of the City of Miami) and Maria Elena Prio-Tarrero (b. 1948 in Cuba married to Alfredo Duran). He also had two "recognized" children with his former mistress Celia Touzet, who gave him two children, Carlos Prio-Touzet and Rodolfo Prio-Touzet. His oldest son, Carlos Prio-Touzet (b. 1955 in Havana), is an architect of some prominence.
He spent his final years as a developer and businessman in Miami. Prio, who died a pauper, committed suicide by gunshot in 1977. He is buried at Woodlawn Park Cemetery and Mausoleum (now Caballero Rivero Woodlawn North Park Cemetery and Mausoleum) in Miami, Florida.
| Preceded by Ramón Grau |
President of
Cuba 1948-1952 |
Succeeded by Fulgencio Batista |
| Preceded by Félix Lancís Sánchez |
Prime Minister of
Cuba 13 October 1945 – 1 May 1947 |
Succeeded by Raul Lopez del Castillo |
| Presidents of Cuba | ||
| Estrada • US occupation, 1906-09 • J. Gómez • García • Zayas • Machado • Céspedes • Pentarchy of 1933 •
Grau • Hevia* • Sterling* • Mendieta* • Barnet* • M. Gómez • Laredo • Batista • Grau • Prío • Batista^ • Alliegro* • Piedra* • Urrutia • Dorticós • Castro * interim ^Domingo acted as president during part of this term. |
 |
|
| Prime Ministers of Cuba, 1940-1976 | ||
| Saladrigas Zayas • Zaydín • Alliegro • Lancís Sánchez • Prío Socarrás • López del Castillo • de Varona • Lancís Sánchez • Gans • Batista • none, 1952-1955 • García Montes • Rivero Agüero • Núñez Portuondo • Güell • Miró Cardona • Castro | |
|
Sources
- Anuario Social de la Habana 1939, (Luz - Hilo S.A.)
- Libro de Oro de la Sociedad Habanera, (Editorial Lex, 1950)
- / Time magazine, February 24, 1947
- / Time magazine, June 14, 1948
- / Time magazine, April 18, 1977
Notes
- ^ Ameringer, Charles. The Cuban Democratic Experience: The Autentico Years, 1944-1952. Gainesville: University Press of Florida (2000) p 189
- ^ Schlesinger, Arthur M. A Thousand Days: John F. Kennedy in the White House. New York: Houghton Mifflin (2002) p 216
External links
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