The origins of the mutiny were never fully clarified. Close to the expected day for elections, the monarchist Lieutenant Colonel Tomás de Figueroa, who considered the notion of elections to be too populist, led the revolt. The night before a group of mutineers (who were never identified) proclaimed Colonel Figueroa as their chief, and early on the morning of April 1, 1811, he went to the San Pablo Army Barracks, taking command and mutinying the troops, in the mistaken belief that he had the support of all the other army units in Santiago.