Despite their absolutist ideas, they took their name from the liberal Spanish caudillo Juan Martín Díez (nicknamed "El Empecinado") as a symbol of anti-French resistance and of loyalty.

After the emergence of carlotist and liberal factions, those who preached a strict allegiance to the Supreme Central Junta gathered under the leadership of sergeant major Diego Ponce de León, a navy officer who had close relationships with the local government and was a fervent street propagandist.

The movement would intimidate those who supported the May Revolution and install a sort of White Terror, that ranged from mere threats to straight banishment or hanging.

[1] Francisco Acuña de Figueroa described an empecinado riot in his diary, stating that:[2]Singing martial anthems as well, more than two thousand people wander through the streets tonight.

After the surrender at the Second Siege, however, a mutiny broke out among the popular militias who refused to let the revolutionaries take the city, but Ponce de León persuaded them to stop and obey the new authorities.