José de San Martín Manuel Rodríguez had returned to Chile before the crossing, and began a guerrilla war in Santiago de Chile against the royalists, in support of the upcoming army. He was supported in the south of the city and the countryside. The strategy was to occupy nearby villages, seize the royalists' weapons and flee. The attacks on Melipilla and San Fernando, and a failed one at Curicó, demoralized the royalists. The columns that crossed the Andes began to take military actions. The column in the north led by Cabot defeated the royalists in Salala, seized Coquimbo and then Copiapó. In the south,
Battle of Ochomogo Battle of Ochomogo The Battle of Ochomogo (5 April 1823) was fought in Ochomogo, to the west of Cartago, Costa Rica, shortly after the country became independent from Spain. Republican militia from San José and Alajuela led by Gregorio José Ramírez defeated conservative forces from Cartago, the capital, who supported making Costa Rica part of the new Mexican Empire. The Republicans won and San José became capital of the country, which remained independent within the Federal Republic of Central America. Cartago was the first Spanish settlement in Costa Rica, founded in 1563 by Juan Vázquez de Coronado. It was the