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In 1868 he was elected as a Parliamentary representative and then a Senator. In 1878 President Julian Trujillo Largacha appointed him Minister of War and Navy, and a year later he was elected Governor of the Sovereign State of Cauca (1879–1883). Hurtado's elevation was due to the "April Revolution" (1879), led by Generals Eliseo Payan and Juan de Dios Ulloa, who represented a coalition of independents and "mosqueristas" who opposed the abuses committed by radicals.