On June 28, 1861, , a local blacksmith and leader in the Democratic Party, led 600 men to nearby Iznájar and took the town with little resistance. Pérez read a republican and socialist manifesto and encouraged local inhabitants to resist monarchist rule. The next day, Pérez mustered an army with upwards of 10,000 armed men and took Loja by force proclaiming a republic. Loja was especially symbolic as the hometown of conservative politician Ramón María Narváez who was one of the federal government's chief ministers, having served as prime minister on a number of occasions between 1844 and 1868. The insurgents led by Pérez proceeded to loot the royal estates in Loja and redistribute available lands to the lower classes. Similar uprisings took place in nearby locales Archidona and Alhama de Granada, in part aided by secret Carbonari societies and loosely inspired by Garibaldi's recent successes in Italy.