As well as El Mercurio, other organs and intellectual groups for the dissemination or communication of information such as the Amantes del Pais, though indeed contributing to the subversion of the colonial order, expressed at the same time the ideology of the dominant élites, at bottom represented their interests; and objectively served towards the appropriation by the creole bourgeoisie of the economic and political power which the masses who were joining in the insurrection and the struggle for independence might have claimed for themselves.