Bernardo O'Higgins accepted the position instead, and became the leader of an independent Chile. He was granted dictatorial powers as Supreme Director on 16 February 1817. On 12 February 1818, Chile proclaimed itself an independent republic. Throughout the war with the royalists, O'Higgins had engaged in an ongoing feud with José Miguel Carrera. After their retreat in 1814, O'Higgins had fared much better than Carrera, who found little support forthcoming from San Martín, O'Higgins' political ally. Carrera was imprisoned to prevent his involvement in Chilean affairs; after his escape, he ended up taking the winning side in the Argentine Federalist war, helping
Bernardo Gutiérrez de Lara Bernardo Gutiérrez de Lara Bernardo (José Bernardo Maximiliano Gutiérrez de Lara) (August 20, 1774 – May 13, 1841) was an advocate and organizer of Mexican independence and the first constitutional governor of the state of Tamaulipas, and a native of Revilla, today Ciudad Guerrero, Mexico. Gutiérrez de Lara was obsessed with the idea of freeing Mexico from Spain, and he began by recruiting and arming twenty-one men in Texas. Then together with José Menchaca, he spoke with the Indians and convinced them to fight with him against the Spanish. After the suppression of an 1811 insurrection in Nuevo Santander, Gutiérrez