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Bolívar was assigned the mission of recovering the city of Santa Marta for the patriots cause. He should go first to Cartagena de Indias to gather supplies and then go to the main objective, but Cartagena de Indias was being directed by the "toledistas" with Juan de Dios Amador at the head and they would not lend such weapons to Bolivar for he was friend of their
staunch enemies, the Piñeres brothers.
They were then prepared to entrench in the city to reject Bolivar who was near to arrive. The Libertador could only press the city by force and surrounded Cartagena
de Indias from the Popa Hill on March 26th of 1815.
Simón Bolívar started with a diplomatic offensive, trying to avoid a useless bloodshed among patriots. He sent conciliatory messages, some of them calm and others desperate, but all without a positive answer from the Toledistas, who were afraid their power would be seized by the Piñeristas if they were supported by Bolivar.
The blockade imposed by the Libertador lasted almost two months, who frustrated and without weapons to advance to Santa Marta (knowing that the powerful army of the Pacifier Pablo Morillo was coming from Spain to reconquer the american provinces), left a message to Cartagena de Indias before leaving for Haiti: "This consideration shakes me, for I find it more useful to not seize Santa Marta than to force Cartagena to help our attention".
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