The Federal Republican Party of Las Villas was a political party

Political party

A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...

 in Las Villas, Cuba

Cuba

The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...

. The party was founded in 1899 by the provincial governor José Miguel Gómez and Carlos Mendieta y Montefur. Pelayo García Santiago was the president of the party. Prominent party members included General José B. Alemán, Dr. Rafael Martínez Ortíz, General José de J. Monteagudo, José Manuel Berenguer, Francisco López Leyva, Lic. Benito Besada, José L. Robau, Eduardo Domínguez, Dr. Orestes Ferrara and Enrique Villuendas.

Origins

The party announced its programme towards the end of January 1900. The programme called for the formation of a decentralized state with provincial autonomy.

On February 25, 1900, a meeting was held in Santiago de Cuba

Santiago de Cuba

Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city of Cuba and capital city of Santiago de Cuba Province in the south-eastern area of the island, some south-east of the Cuban capital of Havana....

. The meeting had been called by the newspaper El Cubano Libre. The meeting formed a group, Convención, which was to contest municipal elections in the city. The Executive of the group was made up by General Francisco Sánchez Echevarría, Eduardo Yero Buduén, Antonio Bravo Correoso, Alberto Quintana, Desidero Fajardo Ortíz and Gregorio Muria. The group merged into the Federal Republican Party of Las Villas, but retained its own political identity. For example, the group in Santiago de Cuba began publishing La República as its own organ.

1900 municipal election

Ahead of the 1900 municipal election, the Federal Republican Party eliminated all potential opposition forces in Las Villas province through the use of violence and coercion. The campaign of intimidation was led by the governor Miguel Gómez and José de J. Monteagudo, who was head of the Guardia Rural. In the end, no other political group dared to contest the elections in Las Villas.

In the September 1900 election to the Constituent Convention, the party won all the seats from Las Villas. The delegates of the party were General José Luis Robau, General José Braulio Alemán, General José de Jesús Monteagudo, General José Miguel
Gómez, Colonel Enrique Villuendas, Lieutenant Martín Morúa Delgado and Dr. Pedro González Llorente.

In 1900, Benito Besada had been assigned by the National Assembly to send a message to the U.S. president William McKinley

William McKinley

William McKinley, Jr. was the 25th President of the United States . He is best known for winning fiercely fought elections, while supporting the gold standard and high tariffs; he succeeded in forging a Republican coalition that for the most part dominated national politics until the 1930s...

. Besada didn't fulfill this mission, and his membership in the party was terminated. Robau and Aléman also left the party.