Manuel de Bernardo Álvarez del Casal

He became part of the Supreme Governing Junta, presided over by José Miguel Pey de Andrade, and on July 26 Álvarez signed the document withdrawing recognition from the Council of Regency in Spain.

He was named to the treasury section of the Junta, and also began editing the periodical Aviso al Público (Warning to the Public).

The Junta was made up of relatives and in-laws of the Marqués de San Jorge, but it exercised control only in the capital of the viceroyalty.

An opposition movement developed in Tunja under the guidance of Camilo Torres y Tenorio, who pressed for a federal system of government.

Delegates were Andrés Rosillo of El Socorro, Camilo Torres of Pamplona, Ignacio Herrera of Nóvita, León Armero of Mariquita, Manuel Campos of Neiva and Álvarez of Bogotá.

The Congress assembled on December 22, and on Álvarez' nomination chose Nariño as secretary, but it made little progress in adopting a form of government.

It was soon replaced by a constituent congress, which created the State of Cundinamarca with Jorge Tadeo Lozano de Peralta, brother-in-law of Álvarez, as its first president (March 26, 1811 - September 19, 1811).

Álvarez and Nariño now joined together to defend the centralist system and to press for the resignation of Lozano, using the periodical La Bagatela to state their case.

On July 16, 1813, the constituent congress, with Álvarez continuing as president, declared Cundinamarca unconditionally independent of Spain and under no sovereignty but that of God and the people.

Nariño resigned the dictatorship to take personal control of the defense of the insurgency, leaving his uncle Álvarez in charge of the government (May 14, 1814 - December 12, 1814).

Nariño left the capital on September 21, 1814 on his Southern Campaign, with the hope of taking Quito, and perhaps even Lima, from the Spanish.