'An exemplary punishment': state violence and political repression in the aftermath of Lorenzo's Revolution of 1836

On 29th September 1836, the brig Guadalupe arrived at the port of Santiago de Cuba, the second-largest city on the Caribbean Island, with the news of the re-establishment in all the Spanish dominions of the liberal Constitution of 1812, after a long decade of absolutist rule. That same night, the Provincial Governor, General Manuel Lorenzo, swore allegiance to the Constitution and defied the authority of the omnipresent Capitan General of Cuba, Miguel Tacón. The revolution lasted three months, ending with most of its leaders in exile. The coup was peaceful, but its aftermath was brutally violent. Those left behind, the Black and Pardo radicals who could not afford to escape, paid an extraordinary price. This paper explores the violence and political repression unleashed by Tacón’s army in the months following the revolution’s collapse and the fascinating case of Candelario Villafaña.