[2] This is partly because when Zela rose, the Junta of Buenos Aires decided not to break with Spain yet (due to the Ferdinand VII strategy), based on the legal theory outlined by Mariano Moreno and followed by Juan José Castelli.

The objective was clear, to contribute to the consolidation of the government of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata to confront in better conditions the Royal Army of Peru based in Lima under the command of Viceroy Abascal.

Thus, it can be said that the rebellion was based on a small sector of local criollo merchants and landowners linked to the mule industry with Upper Peru (Zela, Siles, Argandoña, Herrera, etc.)

[7][full citation needed] But on June 20, Castelli was defeated by José Manuel de Goyeneche in the battle of Guaqui, forcing him to retreat, which meant the condemnation of the republican movement since he was thus isolated.

The royalists took advantage of the situation to disrupt the movement and arrest Zela, who was taken to Lima where he was sentenced to life imprisonment in the prison at Chagres, Panama, where he died on July 18, 1819, at 50 years of age.