Francisco de Paula Rivas, a political Carlist, was born in Villabuena in 1827. He was a senator for Alava in 1871, and was named as a member of the Basque Meetings, created by Manterota in 1870. In 1874 he became President of the General Meetings of Alava (called Juntas Maeztu or Together Maeztu), which had been named by the Carlist pretender. de Paula Rivas acted as a mediator between the different factions of the Carlist movement. After the Meetings dissolved, he resigned was named as a Commissioner in Court and as a representative of Alava in the Basque-Navarrese Meetings.