[7] His zeal for service had not waned, earning him the envy and ire of other military officers – something which Governor-General Juan Antonio Martínez later used against Novales.
He found the sympathy of many Creoles, including Luis Rodríguez Varela ("El Conde Filipino") as well as demoted Latin American officers in the Spanish Army.
"Officers in the army of the Philippines were almost totally composed of Americans," observed the Spanish historian José Montero y Vidal.
[3] On the night of June 1, 1823, Novales, along with a certain sub-lieutenant Ruiz and other subordinates in the King's Regiment, as well as discontented former Latino officers "americanos", composed mostly of Mexicans with a sprinkling of Creoles and mestizos from the now independent nations of Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, Chile, Argentina and Costa Rica,[8] went out to start a revolt.
They eventually failed to seize Fort Santiago because Andrés' brother Mariano, who commanded the citadel, refused to open its gates.
His fight for equality and freedom, however, set ablaze a series of other uprisings that eventually led to the formation of the Philippines as a nation.