 "Palenques," or run away slave communities, would often initiate slavery uprising in various cities and towns in New Spain, which made the colonial Spanish authorities uneasy about arming any free colored individuals.Free colored rebellions and violence in Mexico City impacted regional policy of New Spain towards blacks.Given this social context, the racial climate in which these free-colored militias first appeared was a hostile one, and the first militias often had conflicts within them between their free-colored and white commanders.