The Dominican Congress immediately considered the choice of a temporary successor and after many ballots elected a compromise candidate, General Jose Bordas Valdez, an Horacista senator from Monte Cristi, as provisional president for a period of one year. He assumed office April 14, 1913. His designation did not please the Jimenistas, and the Horacistas also became hostile when it appeared that President Bordas contemplated forming a party of his own. His opponents promptly rose in the Cibao and took possession of the ports of Puerto Plata, Sanchez and Samana, which were thereupon blockaded by the government forces. In the latter part of September, 1913, the revolutionists laid down their arms on the promise of the American minister that free elections for presidential electors and members of a constitutional convention would be guaranteed. A municipal election was in fact held, but President Bordas, alleging that conditions were too unsettled for a general presidential election, held on as president de facto beyond the term for which he had been provisionally elected. On the day his term ended, April 13, 1914, another revolution broke out and rapidly spread to all parts of the Republic. Puerto Plata was occupied by the insurgents and blockaded for several months by government vessels, the blockade being accompanied by a siege of the city under the direction of the president himself. On the other hand, the insurgents laid siege to the capital. The government contracted heavy debts to carry on the war and the commerce of the country suffered greatly. Again the American government lent its good offices for the restoration of order. In August, 1914, a commission of three delegates of the United States arrived in Santo Domingo to present a plan for the resignation of Bordas, the selection of a provisional president by the chiefs of the several political parties, a revision of the election law, and the holding of general elections. The plan was agreed to, President Bordas resigned, and Dr. Ramon Baez, a son of former President Buenaventura Baez, was elected by the Dominican Congress as provisional president on August 27, 1914. Popular elections were held in October, at which there were four candidates: ex-President Juan Isidro Jimenez, ex-President Horacio Vasquez, ex-Minister of Finance Federico Velazquez, and a fourth of little consequence. The Jimenez and Velazquez forces effected a combination, as a result of which Juan Isidro Jimenez was elected president a second time, and took the oath of office on December 5, 1914. For a moment it seemed as though the country was at last entering upon an era of peace and prosperity. The government made efforts to solve the financial problems left by the recent civil wars and to resume public improvements. Investments of foreign capital increased, and agriculture and commerce expanded.