He fought Bolivar to a stalemate, then he managed to best him at the Third Battle of La Puerta in 1818, where he was wounded and successfully defended the capital, Caracas, from Boilvar's forces.

[4] With the outbreak of the War, Morillo left the Spanish Navy to enlist in the Llerena Voluntary Corps, in which, given his military experience, he was made a sub-lieutenant.

[4] The following January he was promoted to captain and sent to Vigo, in Galicia, where the commander of the French garrison, besieged by guerrilleros, refused to capitulate to civilians and demanded the presence of a high-ranking officer.

This expeditionary force would be recruited and organized in the port city Cadiz, a large effort was expended to acquire a large number of troops and amount of material that would keep them well supplied, despite this however morale was low and the expedition was unpopular amongst the troops due to the long journey, tropical diseases, and the nature of warfare being conducted in Spanish America.

[6] On 6 April the Expedition disembarked in Carupano and Isla Margarita off the coast of Venezuela, with the mission to pacify the revolts against the Spanish monarchy in the American colonies.

The loss of a thousand crew members and a million pesos that the ship was carrying meant that Morillo quickly traveled to the mainland and left a small garrison in Pampatar.

He travelled to La Guaira, Caracas, Puerto Cabello, Santa Marta and Cartagena de Indias (United Provinces of New Granada) in a military campaign to fight Simon Bolívar's revolutionary armies.

In a letter written to the Viceroy of Peru José Fernando de Abascal y Sousa dated December 7, Morillo informed the viceroy of the victory with minimal damage done to its fortifications and the capture of a large amount of artillery pieces and ample amounts of gunpowder he also described the level of starvation within the city where estimated that some 2000 Cartagenians where suffering from starvation.

[1] Upon entering the capital an amnesty which had been granted by Brigadier de la Torre was revoked, and Morillo began a Reign of Terror in the city.

[1] The various leaders and intellectuals who had participated in the Juntas of 1810 and that were part of the Neogranadine independence movement were arrested and tried before a consejo de guerra which judged the accused of treason and rebellion, this resulted in the execution of more than a hundred notable Republican officials with many being executed in the main plaza of Santa Fe such as Camilo Torres Tenorio, Francisco Jose de Caldas, and Jorge Tadeo Lozano as well as countless others.

In June 1820, Morillo, under Royal mandate, ordered that everyone in the colonies obey the Cadiz Constitution and sent delegates to negotiate with Bolivar and his followers.

Bolivar and Morillo later met in the Venezuelan town of Santa Ana and signed a six-months' armistice followed by a second one named "War Regularization".