Freed from constant persecution by army squads, rebel society consolidated in the late 1850s. Chan Santa Cruz and other villages in the surroundings and in the direction of Bacalar were transformed into more solid settlements. The Caste War rebels (kruso’b) gradually regained the initiative in the struggle with Yucatán and maintained it up to the end of the century. The reduction in military pressure opened up new opportunities to assault frontier settlements. In contrast to the first phase of the war and as a result of their reduced military capacity, the rebels refrained from the notion of conquering or controlling territory. Instead, they developed a pattern of surprise attacks to loot cattle, pigs, mules, horses and valuables, selling them in Belize in exchange for arms, ammunition and other essential supplies.