Carlos Prío Socarrás
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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].
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[edit] Youth
Prio was born in Bahía Honda, Pinar del Rio Province, Cuba (son of Francisco Prio-Rivas and Maria de Regla Socarras-Socarras [2]) on July 14, 1903 [3]. In his youth, Prio 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 dictatorship and was President of the Directorio Estudiantil in 1930. He was also sought as a fugitive by the first Fulgencio Batista dictatorship and took to exile in 1935.
[edit] Governance
In 1940 he was elected senator of Pinar del Rio province when fellow Autentico Party member [4] Ramón Grau San Martín 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 [5].
The eight years under Grau and Prio, 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]
Prio, called El presidente cordial ("The Cordial President"), was committed to a rule marked by civility, primarily in its respect for freedom of expression. He also continued the tradition of social reform begun with the Cuban Revolution of 1933 and codified in the 1940 Constitution. 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 Prio's term. The Prio 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]
[edit] 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].
[edit] Personal life
Prio fathered three children by two wives and recognized two additional children born out of wedlock.
Prio spent his final years as a developer and businessman in Miami and remained active in the struggle against Castro. He committed suicide by gunshot in 1977 [9].
| Preceded by Ramón Grau |
President of Cuba 1948-1952 |
Succeeded by Fulgencio Batista |
[edit] 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
