On November 5, Colón was practically in chaos, with the Colombian ships Cartagena and Alexander Bixio, in addition to the American ship Nashville all waiting in the Bay of Colón. As if that were not enough, 500 men commanded by Colonel Torres were on land, all well armed and ready to fight. The Colombians intended to take control of the port, and then march towards the capital, which did not turn out as planned because the railway authorities captured the commanders as prisoners.

The five hundred men stayed in Colón, which drove the irate Colonel Torres to threaten to kill any Panamanian, American or anyone else who got in his way. That is when the meetings began to try to convince the Colombians to abandon Panama.

A solid and powerful pecuniary argument, on the order of eight thousand dollars, managed to calm Colonel Torres and send him back home. That evening, while the warships were leaving, Juan Antonio Enrique sent a telegram to Panama City saying, “Only now, at 7:30, can it be said that Panama's independence is assured.”