Carlos Prío Socarras '21 was born in Bahía Honda, Cuba, on July 14, 1903.

He studied at the Colegio de Belén, where he served as treasurer of his graduating class of 1920. While at the school, he established the Pledge of Allegiance to the Cuban flag ceremony, a practice that became a long-standing tradition at the School until it was seized and closed in 1961.

In the fifties, Prío led many Belen alumni in collaborating with Father General Pedro Arrupe S.J.’s campaign to raise money for the victims of the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings.

Prío became politically active while a law student at the University of Havana.

Elected President of the Student Directorate of 1930 (the DEU), he spent two years in prison for activities against Gerardo Machado’s dictatorship.

In 1940 he became the leader of The Authentic Party and was elected senator in that year and again in 1944. He served as prime minister and labor minister. In the latter position, he opposed the Communists, ending their control of the unions.

This Belen alumnus served as the last constitutionally elected President of Cuba from 1948 to 1952. He was committed to promoting civil liberties and freedom of expression. He established the Cuban National Bank, civil service, labor courts, increased foreign trade, and made advances in public works.

In 1948, Carlos traveled to Washington, D.C., to meet with U.S. President Harry S. Truman.

In 1961, he went to South Florida in political exile, where he remained a spokesman against the Castro government until his death on April 5, 1977.

He is posthumously inducted into the Belen Hall of Fame, class of 2023.