it, but eventually allowed it to happen without his direct participation. This position was eventually assumed by Santander himself later in his life. Others consider that Santander may have been involved in the plan from the beginning as it would benefit him politically, though no direct proof of his role has been found. Return from Exile After Bolívar died and Gran Colombia broke up, Santander returned from exile in 1832 and served as President of the Republic of New Granada from 1832 to 1836. Santander had spent a great deal of time in Europe absorbing how the ideas of the Enlightenment were affecting European politics in the early 19th century. As his diary shows, Santander was an assiduous art and music lover, and attended the opera almost every evening. In 1830, he was in Brussels, where he saw various performances of La muette de Portici, whose liberal political implications caused a riot that sparked the Belgian Revolution, although he was in Berlin in August 25 when the riots occurred. When he returned, these concepts influenced his decisions to a great extent. Second Administration In 1832, Santander was elected by Congress as President for a second term. This administration was quite different from the first, in that he moved away from free trade and stressed an alternate form of protectionism. He first reverted most of his original changes from Bolívar's undoing, although some were devalued somewhat. He did not close New Granada to international trade, but rather sought safety for New Granada under the auspices of industrialized nations, instead of discouraging trade with them. He set up economic contacts in eleven United States cities, hoped that by creating strong ties with them, he would promote industrial development in New Granada while avoiding the use of high tariffs, which he inherently disliked. During his second administration, just like he did during his first administration, he ordered the execution of most of the rest of the Spanish officers still in captivity, who had been saved by Bolivar in the first round of Santander's murderous pursuit; among them General José Sardá. They were executed in Bogotá, on July 23, 1833, in front of Santander himself. Later years After his term expired, he remained an important and influential political figure. He died in 1840 and was eventually considered one of the original ideological founders of the Colombian Liberal Party, which would be formally established some