Carlos Manuel de Céspedes is elected on…

Carlos Manuel de Céspedes is elected on April 12, 1869, as the first president of the Republic in Arms and General Manuel de Quesada (who had fought in Mexico under Benito Juárez during the French invasion of that country), as Chief of the Armed Forces.

Ignacio Agramonte, at a conference with other rebel leaders who are trying to make amends with Spain, had made clear his opinion: "Stop at once all the lobbying, the awkward delays, and the humiliating demands: Cuba's only option is to gain its redemption by tearing itself from Spain through armed force."

He and Antonio Zambrana had been elected secretaries, a title equivalent to minister, to the provincial government in February 1869.

On April 10, a constitutional assembly had taken place in the town of Guáimaro (Camagüey), with the purpose of providing the revolution with greater organizational and juridical unity and with representatives from the areas that had joined the uprising.

A major topic of the discussions had been whether a centralized leadership should be in charge of both military and civilian affairs or if there should be a separation between civilian government and military leadership, the latter being subordinate to the first.

The overwhelming majority had voted for the separation option.

Céspedes had been elected president of this assembly and Agramonte and Zambrana, the principal authors of the proposed Constitution, had been elected Secretaries.

After completing its work, the Assembly had reconstituted itself as the House of Representatives as the state’s supreme power, electing Salvador Cisneros Betancourt as its president, Miguel Gerónimo Gutiérrez as vice-president, and Agramonte and Zambrana as Secretaries.