Carlos Prio
 Carlos Prio     (politician, HSCA/Premature deaths) | ||||||||||||
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| Born | 1903-07-14 Bahia Honda, Cuba | |||||||||||
| Died | 1977-04-05 (Age 73) Miami, Florida, United States | |||||||||||
Cause of death | suicide?, gunshot | |||||||||||
| Alma mater | Colegio de Belen, University of Havana | |||||||||||
| Children | • Rocio Guadalupe Prío-Karell Maria Antonetta Prío-Tarrero • Maria Elena Prío-Tarrero • Carlos Prio-Touzet • Rodolfo Prio-Touzet • Carlos Miguel Prio | |||||||||||
| Spouse | Gina Karel María Antonieta Tarrero | |||||||||||
| Victim of | premature death | |||||||||||
| Party | Cuban Revolutionary Party (Authentic) | |||||||||||
| Relatives | Celia Touzet | |||||||||||
Ex-Cuban president "suicided" before testifying before the House Select Committee on Assassinations
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Carlos Prío Socarrás (July 14, 1903 – April 5, 1977) was a Cuban politician. He was 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.
In 1977 Prio was wanted for questioning by the House Select Committee on Assassinations. He was found dead from gunshot wounds on 5th April, 1977, outside the garage of his Miami Beach home. He died at the same time as several others due to appear before the committee, such as George De Mohrenschildt, Charlie Nicoletti and several FBI officials.
Officially Carlos Prio committed suicide, however, in an article, Did the CIA kill Carlos Prio?, David Miller suggested in had been murdered.
Governance
In 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 Genobebo Pérez Dámera and Colonel José Luis Chinea Cardenas, who had previously been in charge of the Province of Santa Clara.
Prío was called el presidente cordial ("the cordial president") when in power. However, he never kept his promise of removing the Mafia from Cuba. He also appeared to acquire considerable wealth during his period in government.
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 in the United States.
It was claimed that Prio was involved in the Bay of Pigs operation. It was also suggested that he had information on the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. He was also linked in testimony with Jack Ruby and Frank Sturgis.
Personal life and death
Prio first married Gina Karel and they had one daughter, Rocío Guadalupe Prío-Socarrás-Karell. He married María Dolores "Mary" Tarrero-Serrano 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: Carlos Prio-Touzet, an architect, and Rodolfo Prío-Touzet.
Officially, Prío committed suicide by gunshot on April 5, 1977, in Miami Beach, Florida, at age 73.[3][4]
