Once in power, they hunted their enemies down until order under a dictator could be restored.

The military President who assumed power in 1876 was too radical to suit the clericals and too clerical to suit the radicals.

Accordingly his opponents decided to make the contest three-cornered by fighting the dictator and one another.
When the President had been forced out, a conservative took charge until parties of bushwhackers and mutinous soldiers were able to install a military leader, whose retention of power was brief.

In 1888 another conservative, who had been absent from the country when elected and who was an adept in law and diplomacy, managed to win sufficient support from all three factions to retain office for the constitutional period.
In Colombia a financial crisis had been approaching ever since the price of coffee, cocoa, and other Colombian products had fallen in the European markets.

This decrease had caused a serious diminution in the export trade and had forced gold and silver practically out of circulation.