lead the organisation and became one of the national CEDA chieftains. Under his guidance, Juventudes became an aggressively anti-Lefist and pro-authoritarian group, though falling short of a typical "shirt organization" and denying similarity to Fascism. During the 1933 elections to the Cortes, Valiente, thanks to his Cantabrian family links, negotiated a place on the local Unión de Derechas Agrarias list of candidates and was comfortably elected from the Santander-Cantabria district. In early 1934, Valiente at least twice secretly travelled to France to speak with Alfonso XIII. His aim was to negotiate the terms of modus vivendi between the monarchists and CEDA, and specifically to ask that for the deposed king refrains from any statements that might impair CEDA's political fortunes. It is not exactly clear to what extent this mission was agreed with the party leader José Gil-Robles, since the two gave conflicting accounts of the incident, but it is usually accepted that the latter was at least approvingly aware. When the news of the Fontainebleau talks leaked to the press CEDA, the party which despite repeated declarations of loyalty towards the Republic was customarily accused of anti-Republican designs by the Left, found itself cornered and embarrassed. Eventually, the official version adopted by CEDA presented the incident as a monarchist plot within the organization. Valiente, apparently with his consent, was made a scapegoat and was expelled from the party. It is not unlikely that the militancy of JAP, perceived by the more acquiescent cedistas as compromising, might have contributed to the harsh line taken against Valiente. He had to leave JAP as well, replaced as its leader by José María Perez de Laborda. Carlist: Republic and War (1935-1939) In late 1935, amid a blaze of publicity, Valiente decided to join Comunión Tradicionalista. For the Carlists, he was a valuable acquisition. The JAP militancy and the monarchist episode, embarrassing to the loyalist CEDA, were welcome credentials for the Traditionalists, who made little secret of their intention to do away with the godless regime as soon as possible. From this moment he became a vehement critic of CEDA, indulging in invectives against his former party mates. During the 1936 elections to the Cortes, he ran on the Carlist ticket from the rather conservative Burgos constituency and was elected. He was not noted as a particularly active deputy; his focus was rather on propaganda. His already notable standing on the national political scene