THL 

 CUBA RLVILW 



-ALL An(3UT CUHA" 



Copyright, 1912, by the Munson Steamship Line 



Volume X 



MAY, 1912 



Number 6 



CUBAN GOVERNMENT MATTERS 



Cuba is preparing to elect 

 Opposiiu/ a president, and the Xcz^' 



Parties and York Herald prints the 



Candidates following concise descrip- 

 tion of parties, platforms 

 and candidates. 



There are two political parties in Cuba — 

 the Conservative and Liberal. Both pro- 

 mulgated platforms in the preceding presi- 

 dential campaign, but in an interview with 

 the Herald correspondent recently, Enrique 

 Jose \"arona. president of the Conserva- 

 tive Party, remarked that all he remem- 

 bered of the Conservative platform was 

 that it proposed certain amendments of 

 the constitution — on just what points he 

 could not say off hand. General Zayas, 

 leader of the strongest faction of the 

 Liberal Party, said that the Liberal Part}' 

 represented decentralized administration 

 and unrestricted suffrage. 



So the presidential campaign is being 

 waged, as usual, on personalities. The 

 Conservative presidential candidate, re- 

 cently nominated by- acclamation in con- 

 vention, is General Mario jNIenocal, with 

 a business record as manager of the big- 

 gest sugar plantation in the world, Cha- 

 parra, in Oriente Province. 



General Menocal's running mate is 

 Senor Enrique Jose Varona, an older man, 

 an "intellectual." This party is, in fact, 

 the old moderate party, which went down 

 and out with Palma's overthrow. A 

 leader in it is General Freyre de Andrade, 

 member of the "militant cabinet"' of the 

 August revolution. 



The Liberal Party consists of three prin- 

 cipal factions. Their disagreement is 

 pregnant with serious mischief. Four 

 years ago, when the party united under 

 General Gomez as presidential candidate, 

 it was agreed that General Gomez should 

 step out at the end of one term, in order 

 that Alfredo Zayas, now vice-president, 

 but then a warring candidate for the 

 presidency within the disrupted party. 



might succeed him. General Gomez was 

 elected, and at no time in the last four 

 years has Senor Zayas permitted hiin to 

 forget that agreetnent. Neither has 

 General Gomez ever succeeded in induc- 

 ing \'ice-President Zayas to imagine he 

 had an}' intention of keeping it. 



The veterans, while all this is going on. 

 are marking time. They declared at Cama- 

 guey they would vote for either party's 

 candidate who embodied their ideals — a 

 clean Cuban record and a Cuban platform. 

 General Nunez has informed the Herald 

 correspondent that they will declare for 

 neither IMenocal nor Zayas until they know 

 the program of each. Neither, to date, 

 has announced any program. Neither the 

 conservatives nor the liberals believe the 

 Veterans' Association can control the 

 veteran vote en masse. General Nunez 

 thinks otherwise. 



General Juan Alario ]\Ienocal, the Con- 

 servative candidate for the presidency, 

 arrived in Havana from his home at Cha- 

 parra, Oriente Province, on May 5th. 



Thousands of his followers escorted him 

 from the railroad station to his hotel. 



The bitter discussions among the fac- 

 tions of the Liberal Party will help the 

 election of the Conservative Party can- 

 didate. 



Followers of General Asbert, the gover- 

 nor of Havana Province, who aspired to 

 be the candidate of the liberals for the 

 presidency, are protesting against the ac- 

 tion of the Liberal Convention in nomi- 

 nating Alfredo Zayas, the present vice- 

 president, for president. They want a 

 new convention. May 6th despatches 

 were to the effect that the Asbertistas 

 were approaching the Conservative Party 

 for an agreement. The basis of the agree- 

 ment to be that the Asbertistas support 

 General Menocal, the conservative, for 

 president, while the ^lenocalists support 

 General Asbert for re-election as governor 

 of Havana. 



