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70th Anniversary of Batista Coup: March 10, 1952 (Francisco Wong-Diaz, USA, 03/11/22 4:02 am)

March 10, 1952 is a historic date in the history of modern Cuba. On that day, President Carlos Prío Socarrás was deposed by a bloodless coup d'etat led by Fulgencio Batista.

Batista acted to preempt a national election which he was about to lose. Prío Socarrás swiftly fled Cuba into exile in the USA. The coup destroyed Cuban hopes for the institutionalization of democratic politics and stunted the political aspirations of many ambitious individuals like Fidel Castro. The following year on July 26, the Castro brothers attacked a military barracks in Oriente province and began their Socialist revolution.

Prío Socarrás committed suicide in 1977 in Miami at age 73. He and his wife are buried in the cemetery of Little Havana.

JE comments:  The Prío Socarrás presidency (1948-1952) was before your time, Francisco, but what can you tell us about it?  I understand that his election may have been the fairest in Cuba's very short democratic history.

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