Dissatisfied with the Mexican President’s decision to halt all payments on foreign debts until the Mexican economy improved, a coalition of European Powers that included the French Empire, Spain and Great Britain agreed to send an expeditionary corps to capture the main port of Vera Cruz and hold it until debt payments were restored. The British and Spanish monarchs did not reckon with the ambitions of Napoleon III, nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte and Emperor of the French. The wily Napoleon III schemed to conquer Mexico and set up a puppet regime that would bleed Mexico of its treasures to finance a resurgent French Empire.