Meanwhile, Ruiz Belvis, who headed the Committee, was supposed to gather financial support for the incoming Puerto Rican revolution through a tour of South America. He had received an invitation from Benjamín Vicuña Mackenna, a Chilean diplomat, to coordinate a common front against Spanish interests in all of Latin America (Spain was still threatening Chile after the Chincha Islands War, and any revolution in the Caribbean would have been a welcome distraction). Vicuña promised to gather necessary support in Chile, Peru, Ecuador and Venezuela to help the Puerto Rican independence cause.