 He faced several main tasks in the presidency, mainly political in nature.First was consolidating state power in the central government and curbing regional strongmen ("caudillos"); second was obtaining diplomatic recognition from the United States; and third was managing the presidential succession in 1924 when his term of office ended.His administration began constructing what one scholar called "an enlightened despotism, a ruling conviction that the state knew what ought to be done and needed plenary powers to fulfill its mission."