After the triumph of the Plan of Cuernavaca, all laws enacted by the progressives during ten months in office were repealed, the Pontifical and National University of Mexico was reopened, Congress was dissolved and the officials who implemented the reform measures were dismissed.
In March 1833, Antonio López de Santa Anna was elected for the first time as President and Valentín Gómez Farías as Vice-President of Mexico.
They alternated leadership of the executive branch due to the frequent absences of Santa Anna, sometimes so that he could personally suppress uprisings, and other times to "restore his failing health.
While Vice President Gómez Farías was at the head of government, he implemented reform measures affecting the interests of both the army and the Catholic Church consistent with liberal ideas of equality before the law.
[4] In response to these rebellions, in June 1833 Congress passed the Ley del Caso (Case Law) that ordered opponents of the reform regime into exile.
[6][7] In ecclesiastical matters, the Gómez Farías reforms rescinded mandatory tithing, a ten percent tax of agriculture whose revenues supported the Catholic Church; the hospitals and farms of the Philippines missionaries were placed in charge of the Federation, and the College of Santa María de Todos Santos and the Pontifical and National University of Mexico were closed.
[12] In November 1833, Santa Anna asked Congress for permission to be absent for six months to address his "failing health" at his hacienda of Manga Clavo.
[13] There he received and heard complaints from the conservative opponents of Vice President Valentín Gómez Farías's reform regime, including a letter from the Bishop of Puebla, Francisco Pablo Vázquez, who called the law of 17 December "a sacrilegious statement against the divine authority of the Pope."
Meanwhile, the Bishop of Monterrey, José María de Jesús Belaunzarán y Ureña, announced he was willing to pay the fines and suffer exile before enforcing the new law.
[16] On 20 April 1834, the town of Orizaba opposed the decree of the local Legislature that ordered the convents of San José de Gracia and del Carmen to be closed.
[17] Two days later, Congress enacted a 30-day extension before the law of 17 December would be rigidly enforced, after which bishops, councils or governors of bishoprics who did not comply would lose their posts and would be expelled from the country.
Five days later he published a manifesto in which he informed the public of the bitter division between reformist liberals and conservatives and declared himself impartial and ready to enforce the Constitution to preserve the rights of citizens.
He ordered the disarmament of the civic militia in face of protests by their commander, Lucas Balderas, and suggested to Congress that they should abolish the Ley del Caso.
[24] On the day that the plan was announced, Tornel issued a decree subjecting the press to censorship and making it a crime to publish posters that offended the regime.
On 1 June he defined his position in another public manifesto, which expressed willingness to defend the people's wishes to maintain the Catholic religion unharmed, saying he had "begged" to the Chambers to repeal the laws to stop the upheavals and religious fears.
The same day, Bishop Juan Cayetano Gómez de Portugal led Mass at the Metropolitan Cathedral in Mexico City and sang the Te Deum.
At the same time he appointed Juan Cayetano Gómez de Portugal y Solís as Secretary of Justice and Ecclesiastical Affairs in place of liberal Andrés Quintana Roo.
[37] On 16 July, the besiegers opened negotiations with representatives of the governor, Agustín M. Callejo, Juan José Sánchez and the priest Apolinario Zacarías.
On 26 July there was a peace agreement, in which Santa Anna promised to preserve the federal system and designate Guadalupe Victoria as commanding general.