Glen
Moderator
New Granada had a tradition of more centralized government than many of the other Spanish successor states in the New World, and thus was not immune to the allure of Korsgaardism. When General Ricardo Rincon was elected President of New Granada (with strong backing of the military making his selection more a coup than an election), he brought the nation even further under control along Korsgaardist principles. Plotting with other Korsgaarist regimes both regionally and globally, Rincon launched on Christmas Day 1889 his invasion of the United Provinces of South America, claiming long disputed border regions (claims stretching back all the way to their Spanish colonial past). However, for the Korsgaardist alliance the goal was also to claim the rich saltpeter fields of the Atacama desert, which were so very useful in the manufacture of gunpowder, especially the smokeless variety.