With a view to the fulfilment of these dreams he secured help in Haiti, and later in the year reached Margarita. His associates included MacGregor and Ducoudray-Holstein, Crossing to Carúpano, he sent Mariño to Guaira, Piar to Maturín, and with Anzoátegui and other leaders he himself marched to Ocumare; here, however, he was cut off by royalist forces, and, retreating, joined Zaraza and Monágas with their guerilla troops in the Llanos, and finally with Piar defeated the royalists in the battle of El Juncal, near Barcelona. The net result of the campaign in the earlier part of the year was, however, adverse, and when, after joining Bermudez in Bonaire, he crossed again to Paria, he was threatened with death by the newly arrived leader and Mariño. As a result he returned to Haiti on August 22nd, but came back later in the year at the request of Piar and other generals. Early in 1817 Mariño and Bermudez again came to an agreement with Bolivar, but when he and Arismendi were defeated at Clarines, on their way to Carácas, Mariño again became subordinate, and, to his lasting disgrace, left General Freites without support in Barcelona, where he and 300 refugees were massacred in the _Casa Fuerte_ on April 7th by the royalists. Shortly after these events a Congress was formed in Cariaco, by which Bolivar was made one of the Executive, but Mariño Commander-in-Chief; the latter was at this time in Margarita, which was now first named Nueva Esparta. Meanwhile, Bolivar had moved southward to Guayana, and a fresh invasion of royalists soon drove the other leaders in Cariaco to join him there. After a victory at San Felix by Piar the prisoners and monks were massacred, but by whose orders could not be definitely ascertained. The city of Angostura was evacuated by the Spanish on July 17th, and Guayana Vieja on August 3rd. During the succeeding months Páez was fighting with Morillo in the plains of Barinas; Mariño, by the intervention of Sucre, finally acknowledged Bolivar as commander-in-chief, and Piar, for insubordination and ostensibly also for the massacre of San Felix, was condemned by court-martial. On September 3rd an order was issued for the sequestration of royalist property to pay for the war, and in November Bolivar left Angostura for Calabozo. After one reverse he retired into the province of Barinas, where Páez joined him; and finally, early in 1818, he defeated Morillo at Calabozo, though Páez was in April forced back on San Fernando de Apure with a few men.