Were they bought off? Did they take the money and run or were they just incompetent?
I would have know idea as to being bought off, or by whom.
Did they take the money and run
there was no money to take. Money raised by the caravan was used to cover the caravan's expenses. The money raised from the auction of items was given to the property rights group here locally to defray costs.
or were they just incompetent?
Considering the entire affair there would be many mixed opinions from the local people involved in the rebellion. The Miami side of things did not pan out at all, who to blame? Many opinions as to an answer for that.
The Collier County side was a fiasco from the start. The initial involvement was from Henry Lamb to Tom DeWease, From Jay Walley to The Grange, From Paragon Foundation to The Dade County Farm Bureau.
Collier County Commissioners were blocking the way, The State of Florida Capital Bldg was the only State to not show up with a flag. In retrospect I can think of hundreds of things that I would have loved to see done differently.
If you ever get involved in a major undertaking that many personalities are involved in just try to remember principles before personalities.