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Carlos Manuel Prío Socarrás (July 14, 1903 – April 5, 1977) was a Cuban politician. He served as the 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. He was the first president of Cuba to be born in an independent Cuba and the last to gain his post through universal, contested elections. He went into exile in the United States, where he lived for 25 years before dying by suicide at age 73.
Carlos Prío Socarrás | |
|---|---|
 | |
| 11th President of Cuba | |
| In office October 10, 1948 – March 10, 1952 | |
| Prime Minister | Manuel Antonio de Varona Félix Lancís Sánchez Oscar Gans |
| Vice President | Guillermo Alonso Pujol |
| Preceded by | Ramón Grau |
| Succeeded by | Fulgencio Batista |
| 5th Prime Minister of Cuba | |
| In office October 13, 1945 – May 1, 1947 | |
| Preceded by | Félix Lancís Sánchez |
| Succeeded by | Raúl López del Castillo |
| Personal details | |
| Born | July 14, 1903 Bahia Honda, Cuba |
| Died | April 5, 1977 (aged 73) Miami Beach, Florida, U.S. |
| Cause of death | Suicide by gunshot |
| Political party | Cuban Revolutionary Party (Authentic) |
| Spouse(s) | Gina Karell |
| Relations | Antonio Prío (brother) Francisco Prío (brother) Maria Regla Prío (sister) |
| Children | 5, including Carlos Prio-Touzet |
| Alma mater | Colegio de Belen University of Havana |
| Profession | Attorney, politician |
Governance
editIn 1940, Prío was elected senator of Pinar del Río Province. Four years later, fellow Partido Auténtico member[1] Ramón Grau became president, and during the Grau administration Prío 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 Partido Auténtico.[2] Prío was assisted by Chief of the Armed Forces General Genovevo Pérez Dámera and Colonel José Luis Chinea Cárdenas, who had previously been in charge of the Province of Santa Clara.
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 had 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 Auténticos, the circumstances differed only in degree from the complexities and dynamics encountered in free societies everywhere (how often did Cubans compare Havana with Chicago?).[3]
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 successes.
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 Jr., 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.[4]
Personal life and death
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Prio first married Inés Georgina (Gina) Karell Pedrosa and they had one daughter, Rocío Guadalupe Prío-Karell. He married María Dolores "Mary" Tarrero-Serrano (1924–2010) on June 17, 1945, in the Chapel of the Presidential Palace, and they had two daughters, María Antonetta Prío-Tarrero (married to César Odio, former City Manager of the City of Miami) and María Elena Prío-Tarrero (divorced from Alfredo Duran, former chairman of the Florida Democratic Party). He also had two recognized children with his former mistress, Celia Rosa Touzet Masfera: Carlos Prio-Touzet, an architect, and Rodolfo (Rudy) Prío-Touzet.[citation needed]
Prío died by suicide by gunshot to the chest on April 5, 1977, in Miami Beach, Florida, at age 73.[5][6] He and his wife Mary are buried at Woodlawn Park Cemetery and Mausoleum (now Caballero Rivero Woodlawn North Park Cemetery and Mausoleum) in Miami, Florida.
References
edit- ^ "A Cuban Solution to the Cuban Problem". Autentico.org. Retrieved 2011-05-01.
- ^ "Datos Biograficos, Carlos Prio". Autentico.org. Retrieved 2011-05-01.
- ^ Ameringer, Charles. The Cuban Democratic Experience: The Auténtico Years, 1944–1952. Gainesville: University Press of Florida (2000) p. 189 ISBN 0-8130-2667-9
- ^ Schlesinger, Arthur M. A Thousand Days: John F. Kennedy in the White House. New York: Houghton Mifflin (2002) p 216
- ^ "Carlos Prio Socarras, Once Cuba President, Kills Self". The Los Angeles Times. April 5, 1977. p. 9. Retrieved September 16, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "The end of Prio". Arizona Republic. Phoenix, Arizona. April 8, 1977. p. 6. Retrieved September 16, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
Further reading
edit- 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 El Progreso General De La Nación 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
- Un Presidente Cordial:Carlos Prio Socarras, 1927–1964, by Mario Riera Hernandez, Ediciones Universal, Miami 1970.
- "En Defensa Del Autenticismo" – Aracelio Azcuy Y Cruz, Julio 1950, La Habana, P. Fernandez Y Cia.
External links
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- A film clip "Cuba President in U.S., 1948/12/09 (1948)" is available for viewing at the Internet Archive