Initially, the movement fought for the reform of the Cúcuta Constitution and a break with the authorities of Santa Fe de Bogotá albeit while maintaining the protection of Simón Bolívar.

On 31 August 1824, Francisco de Paula Santander decreed that there would be a general enlistment of all citizens between the ages of 16 and 50 in the country and demanded a contingent of 50,000 men from the Department of Venezuela to be sent to Bogotá.

Vice President Santander took advantage of the situation to request that Congress proceed with great prudence in the face of a political crisis that was affecting the relationship between Caracas and Bogotá, resorting to reminding the deputies of the brilliant career of General Páez and the need to count on his person if it was possible for the good of the Union.

Páez is finally removed from his position as General Commander of the Department of Venezuela, being immediately called to Bogotá to face trial, by vote of the Senate.

Three months later a revolt of citizens arises in front of the Municipal Council of the locality, the next day the mayors declare that before the alteration of the public order that was taking place in the province, it was necessary to bring Páez back to the leadership of the country.

The trust that the Liberator placed in his closest military collaborators, mostly Venezuelans and British, and their frequent excesses, added one more reason to the differences between Bolívar and the members of Congress.

Bolívar, with his fervent desire to see Gran Colombia united in the face of internal and external aggression, decides to impose his will, thus establishing a dictatorship as a last resort.

This was the final spark that ignited the spirits of those seeking secession, seeing that proposal as a return to the monarchical system that they had gotten rid of in the War of Independence against Spain; For this reason, multiple attempts to assassinate the Liberator arise.

On April 11, 1831, General José Antonio Páez took the legal oath as Constitutional President of Venezuela; an excerpt from his speech that day upon taking office: The truth is that one of the best periods in our history opens then, and precisely in relation to the political and moral organization of the Republic.

Prudence, firmness, probity, sagacious appreciation of the impossibility of separating from the military chief at that time, but at the same time courageous intention to watch over him and reduce him; laborious and consistent enthusiasm to work for an effective public administration and to balance freedom and order, such were the virtues of that generation, which managed to convert the dismemberment of Colombia into a patriotic and legalistic movement, initiated under such disastrous auspices...President Páez ruled with relative peace during his term, his government being made up mostly of high-ranking military veterans of the War of Independence, achieving a slight recovery of the economy devastated by the war, mainly due to the enactment of the Law of Freedom of Contracts of 1834 and the exports of Coffee.