Arequito revolt
The first effective response to the porteño control came from the Banda Oriental (now Uruguay), where the caudillo José Artigas denied the capital the right to govern his province.In April, a peace treaty signed between the governments of Buenos Aires and Santa Fe gave hopes of a solution to the internal quarrels, and the offices believed they would go back to the northern front.Arriving at Arequito, on January 8, 1820, General Bustos, supported by Colonels Alejandro Heredia and José María Paz, directed the military rebellion.The arrested Colonels Cornelio Zelaya and Manuel Guillermo Pinto in the middle of the night, traveled to a short distance from Fernández de la Cruz encampment, and decided to negotiate with him.Seeing that he could not continue forward, Fernández de la Cruz decided to give his army to Bustos and returned to Buenos Aires almost alone and followed by only a few loyal officers like Lamadrid."After meeting with López's envoys at La Herradura, by the Tercero River, Bustos moved his army to Córdoba Province, where he was triumphantly received.Which will respond with all its efforts and what depended on its resources to fight the enemies of common freedom, even when the federation had not yet been organized in the provinces...."That means the same sentiments that Bustos and the other participants of the Arequito rebellion had.There was not to be a new Supreme Director because of pressure from López and Ramírez, Buenos Aires designated a provincial governor who signed the Treaty of Pilar with the Federalists.At the same time, interim Governor Díaz announced that he was thinking of an association with the Littoral Caudillos (Santa Fé, Entre Ríos and Corrientes Provinces) in their fight against Buenos Aires; that is, the signing of some alliance pact with José Gervasio Artigas, Ramírez or López.The remaining forces were used for the defense of the province against the Pampas and Chaco native tribes and the following year to repel the combined attack of Francisco Ramírez and José Miguel Carrera.Nobody dared to defend Bustos and his followers, and as the defeat of the federalist party in the civil wars carried forward their enemies, that point of view was the one which survived.