Carlos Prío Socarrás
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| Carlos Prío Socarrás | |
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16th President of Cuba
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| In office October 10, 1948 – March 10, 1952 |
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| Preceded by | Ramón Grau |
| Succeeded by | Fulgencio Batista |
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| Born | July 14, 1903 Bahia Honda, Cuba |
| Died | April 5, 1977 Miami, Florida |
Carlos Prío Socarrás (July 14, 1903 – April 5, 1977) was the 16th 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
Prío was born in Bahía Honda, Pinar del Río Province, Cuba as the 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, was a Cuban Senator and his younger brother, Antonio Prío, served as his Minister of Housing. His sister, Maria Regla Prío, served in the Cuban House of Representatives.
In his youth, he graduated from Colegio de Belén.[citation needed] 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 a delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1940.
[edit] 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. Prío, 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 Prío, failing to mount a resistance, boarded a plane and went into exile.
According to Arthur M. Schlesinger, Prío 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), Prío 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, Prío met clandestinely with Fidel Castro in Texas in 1956, giving him $50,000 to buy arms and transportation [7]. Prío 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
He first married Gina Karel and they had one daughter, Rocio Guadalupe Prío-Socarrás-Karell. He then married María Antonieta Tarrero de Prío, and they had two daughters, Maria Antonetta Prío-Tarrero (b. 1945 in Cuba and married to Cesar Odio, former City Manager of the City of Miami) and Maria Elena Prío-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. Prío, 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.
[edit] References
- Otero, Juan Joaquin (1954). Libro De Cuba, Una Enciclopedia Ilustrada Que Abarca Las Artes, Las Letras, Las Ciencias, La Economia, La Politica, La Historia, La Docencia, Y ElProgreso General De La Nacion Cubana - Edicion Conmemorative del Cincuentenario de la Republica de Cuba, 1902-1952. (Spanish)
- 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
[edit] Notes
[edit] External links
| Preceded by Ramón Grau |
President of Cuba 1948-1952 |
Succeeded by Fulgencio Batista |
| Preceded by Félix Lancís |
Prime Minister of Cuba 13 October 1945 – 1 May 1947 |
Succeeded by Raul Lopez del Castillo |
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