Among the diplomatic concerns caused by Cofresí was a robbery carried out by several of his subordinates, the catalyst of an incident that threatened war between Spain and the United States known as "The Foxardo Affair", eventually leading to the resignation of his rival, pirate hunter David Porter.

The final naval engagement took place on March 5, 1825,[1] and began with a trap set at Boca del Infierno, a passage off Bahía de Jobos, Puerto Rico.

[2] While still regarded as a Don, Cofresí began his criminal life in Puerto Rico by leading a band of highway robbers which made a profit by assaulting farmers and merchants, from whom they would steal merchandise which was later sold by close friends and family.

[3] Consequently, Governor Miguel de la Torre soon earned a particular interest in the actions of Cofresí and was quoted stating that his name "gained celebrity due to his fearlessness and atrocities, [not even] the tranquil neighbor, the laborious merchant [or] the honest farmer felt safe from the claws of this criminal".

[3] Despite the official posture on piracy and his bold actions, capturing Cofresí would prove complicated, since he was already gathering a mythical reputation in Puerto Rico and becoming highly influential.

[10] Despite his influence among the criollos, most of the pirate's close associates were black or mixed-race men in their 20s and early 30s who were incapable of thriving under the casta system, and instead opted to become thieves, murderers and other sorts of criminals.

[23] Ocasio reacted to the attack by sailing towards land and allowing his guests to disembark, but was unable to outmaneuver the pirates, who quickly boarded and stole all but a scant portion of the merchandise.

The crew was then taken before Mayor Francisco Caro and handed him a letter (originally intended for an associate of the merchant named Juan Campos) with the details of the robbery, but the functionary ordered a search of his ship and documents.

Platt left the vicinity in protest and walked towards Beagle, but was arrested along with Midshipman Robert Ritchie and categorized as a suspect himself, being held prisoner under the supervision of the town's mayor.

[34] After interviewing all of the involved, the officer concluded that the mayor and his subordinates were in fact buying time for the pirates, in the process allowing the mobilization of loot to a less conspicuous location.

Aware that the diplomatic crisis could lead to a full blown war between Spain and the United States and still within the grace period, the mayor and the captain of the port arrived at the scene and offered apologies to Platt and Porter.

[31] Furthermore, these were the same pirates that had captured and commandeered the sloops Neptune and Anne (both operating under Danish papers, but based at St. Thomas), attacked another sailing off St. Croix, and sacked several local stores during an incident.

[31] To aid in the mission, governor von Scholten ordered that no vessels could leave the St. Thomas port during the following days, drastically reducing the maritime traffic and preventing any of Cofresí's associates from reaching him in time.

[38] On March 3, the expedition moved to the southeast coast of Puerto Rico and sailed west, investigating several geographic features that could provide a natural haven for Cofresí.

[40] Sloat provided weapons for the new arrivals and assigned additional forces, including medic Samuel Biddle and lieutenants Pendergrast and George A. Magruder, for a total of 23 sailors.

[42] Pendergrast decided to set up a trap by posing as a merchant vessel, ordering all of his marines and the Spanish militiamen to lie down on the deck and wait, ready to open fire.

[42] The naval engagement lasted for 45 minutes, during which San José y las Animas exploited the offensive position that it had gained during the surprise attack, damaging the mast and hull of Anne.

[42][44] San José y las Animas then directed its cannon to fire at the shore, managing to hit and kill pirate Juan de Mata with a shot to the midsection.

[43] San José y las Animas sailed towards the adjacent Jobos shipyard, where Antonetty disembarked, alerted the Spanish troops stationed there, and mobilized the civilians to help in the search for the escaped pirates.

[47] The noise attracted reinforcements led by Eugenio de Silva, who were then joined by captain Luis Sánchez, the man commissioned by Brenes to capture the pirates.

[48] Due to their race, governor Miguel de la Torre only granted a silver medal and a certificate recognizing their work to the Puerto Rican militiamen.

[64] On March 27, 1825, the military trial determined that the sentence for their transgression was death, the first time that a purely local process (held at San Juan without the consent of the West Indies Council) had led to this verdict for the crime of piracy.

[70] Since Cofresí's contacts extended throughout the west, south and east coasts of Puerto Rico, the authorities continued investigating and arresting people that were considered to have been associates of the pirates.

For his work in this operation and lending his sloop Avispa (which was reportedly lost in a storm during the voyage), Alacán received a military recognition and was restituted with a pirate vessel confiscated at Mona.

[79] Merchant Juan de Arce was also captured in Naguabo after his figure was linked to Cofresí by the military commander of Vieques, Antonio Roselló, who identified that one of his ships was in service of the pirates.

[90] The report claims that Sloat was aware of an evasion strategy that was used by the pirates to escape when pursued by large ships, which consisted of traveling as close to the coast as possible in small draft vessels, thereby avoiding being followed.

[100] Both men exhibited recent gun wounds, with the former still carrying fifteen Spanish coins, handkerchiefs, two faux pearl necklaces, a list written in English, two earrings, two razors and three bullets, among other things.

[10] Despite this, the United States press quickly acted to propagate its knowledge of the case in order to influence the Porter trial, since he justified his invasion by claiming that Puerto Rico had become a Government-sanctioned pirate's nest.

"[102] In 1846, Boston Traveller reporter Freeman Hunt elaborates and recounts that upon landing ashore, Cofresí employed sly tactics to avoid the soldiers, first exploiting the chaos to evade the cavalry and then stealing the clothes and animals from a herdsman.

[103] Hunt notes that Cofresí was close to escaping, but a child present at the last guard post recognized him due to bilateral syndactyly, forcing him to run and be wounded by a shot to the neck.