sure to result. They did not act immediately, however, as they awaited the right moment to strike. Meanwhile, the long-established colonial social order in Cartagena was being undermined by the ideas of the libertarians (meaning the patriotic defenders of liberty). The final blow to bring down the royalist government, the coup de grace dreamed of by the patriots, would not be accomplished easily, as the city was a formidable base of Spanish power, and had entrenched political, military, religious and administrative bureaucracies. The administrative apparatus of Cartagena was complex and difficult to penetrate, but the Criollos continued to conspire and form their plans while waiting for the expected moment to act. In this they had the support and leadership of the two local mayors, Dr. José María García de Toledo and Miguel Diaz Granados. In early May 1810, Antonio Villavicencio, a Criollo aristocrat born in Quito and brought up in Bogotá, arrived at Cartagena de Indias. Villavicencio, whom the Consejo Real (Royal Council) of Spain had commissioned to persuade the restless criollos of the New Kingdom of Granada to swear allegiance to King Ferdinand VII of Spain, was gradually won over to the cause of independence. He wrote a letter to the Viceroy of New Granada explaining that one of the chief grievances of the criollo elites was that they felt virtually excluded from service in the state bureaucracy by the practical difficulty of travelling to Spain to secure an appointment. The people of Cartagena demanded that the Cabildo (council) decide the matter, and on May 22, 1810, it met and swore fidelity to the Regency Council, but at the same time it constituted a governing body for the province, a junta, to be chaired by Governor Francisco de Montes and two councillors. This session of the cabildo of Cartagena, an important milestone in Colombian history, marks the beginning of the struggle for independence. The city's criollo merchants wanted the freedom to trade with other countries besides Spain, and in response the junta opened the port to the ships of all nations. On June 14, 1810, the most ardent of the nationalists in the cabildo launched a coup with the help of the black and mulatto militia from the Getsamani barrio (neighborhood). Governor Montes, whom they accused of being a Francophile (afrancesado), was deposed and deported to Havana, and replaced by Col. Blas de Soria. Villavicencio had been sent as