Fernando de Mompox y Zayas

The Jesuits controlled a large amount of land, had many Indians under their protection, were economic competitors, and enjoyed the favor of the Spanish royal court.

Drawing on writers such as Juan de Mariana, he said that the government's authority rested on the assent of the común, the community.

Kings have power not directly from God, but from their work for the welfare of the community, and if they fail to uphold that, then defying them is legitimate.

Barúa and Bishop Palos, while skeptical of the Jesuits, counseled for Asunción to accept the new governor, fearful of meeting Antequera's fate.

On December 28, a group of around 300 comuneros entered Asunción and demanded that the cabildo deny Soroeta entry to the city.

The cabildo stalled for time and asked for the comuneros to leave, but were refused; Governor Barúa resigned in frustration.

Soroeta waited in a hermitage around a day's ride from the city at the advice of Bishop Palos to see if the situation would improve.

However, in early February 1731, Mompox sought to build a new, parallel government structure on democratic lines: the Junta Gobernativa, whose members would be filled by election.

Meanwhile, Mompox moved in the countryside, spreading his message of the power of the people and building support for the more radical comuneros.

To Mompox's surprise, Barreyo arrested his former ally and immediately sent him south, through the Jesuit missions in Itatín and eventually to a jail cell in Buenos Aires.

Here, his history again becomes murky, but according to a work of Pedro Lozano, he lived out the rest of his life quietly as a merchant in Rio de Janeiro.