Supplemental Info: Ep 12: Charges Against Quijeda

CHARGES AGAINST QUIJEDA:

These are the 19 charges levied against Quijeda pertaining to the province of Tabasco according to Dr. Diogenes Lopez Reyes as relayed in his book Historia de Tabasco. Underneath each I have added a note categorizing the charge based on reoccurring charges we may see in the future.

 

 

1) Banishing Catalina de Heredia, widow of a wealth conquistador, from Victoria, under penalty of 100 lashes,

- Banishing/Force Marrying to acquire Wealth

 

2) Unjustly acquitted Martin Teller Sarmiento, who treacherously killed Juan Gutierrez with an arquebus on the field, and shot and wounded Gomez de Cordoba; something Quijada apparently did out of fear that Sarmiento would kill him next.

- Acquittal for personal gain

 

3) Receiving 400 pesos of mines belonging to Juan de Ledesma, who owed it to Juan Velazquez, money which Quijada took and did not deliver to its rightful owner.

- Mismanagement of Money/property

 

4) Forced a royal treasury in Tabasco, one Antonio de Tolosa, to give him 225 pesos of gold from the mines, which was under the charge of the late Manuel Diaz, under the pretext that he was going to send them to Spain but instead kept it

- Mismanagement of Money/property

 

5) Under the pretext that he was under orders from the Dominican friar Domingo de Tineo, he took the caciacizgo of Tecomajiaca from its owner, the cacique Don Francisco, to gift it to another man.

- Mismanagement of Money/property

 

6) In la Victoria he was accused of forcing the widow of Francisco de Cepeda to marry, Pedro de Interian, giving one Alonso de Tobilla the deceased’s Cepedas ecnomiendia in the process. Since this was all done under the auspices of royal affairs, the lady Cepedas could not reclaim her deceased husbands encomiendas in Campeche and instead Quijada would later be accused of gifting these properties to his niece Maria de Quijada when she married Gregorio de Cerina.

- Banishing/Force Marrying to acquire Wealth

 

7) He mistreated and put in prison the treasurer Antonio de Tolosa because Antonio refused to give him some weapons he demanded from the Royal armory

- Mismanagement of Money/property

 

8) He forced Catalina de Solórzano, widow of Diego Vázquez de Rivadeneyra, to marry Garcia de Avendaño, a crony of the bishop of Chiapas Tomas Cassillas, who received the deceased mans properties.

- Banishing/Force Marrying to acquire Wealth

 

9) During his visits to the towns of Chontalpa, Dr. Quijada na this ten companions did not pay for the food or supplies that the indigenous people had provided for them.

- Mistreating the locals

 

10) That he insulted and mistreated the sons of Tabascan conquistadors, Juan Ruiz, Cristobal Perez de Prudencia and Melchor de Heredia, who had all come to request certain favors and privileges given their fathers contributions.

- Mistreatment of Tabascan conquistadors sons

 

11) That he sent Alonso Sanchez, a resident of LA Victoria, with a rod of justice to visit Chontalpa, This Alonso Sanchez in turn went to Huimango raised a scaffold and there he harassed, whipped, disheartened, tarred and feathered, many indigenous people. From other villagers he took money, cocoa, chickens, pigs, and other valuables. These punishments were all confirmed by the mayor Quijada.

- Mistreating the locals

 

12) That he kept 20 tostones (coins) which he latter blamed on Diego Sanchez Moreno, fining him for the crime.

- Mismanagement of Money/property

 

13) He fired many indigenous people from Tabasco to destroy and old Cu or temple to build a religious hermitage, however after several weeks of work he not only lost total interest in the project but refused to pay the workers for their completed work and abandoned the project altogether.

- Mismanagement of Money/property

 

14) That whenever he was in Tabasco he would allow gambling to be played which was a forbidden game where many gold pesos were bet and lost.

- Gambling

 

15) He sent Anton Gomez to Veracruz to sell cocoa, corn, turkeys, pugs, turtles, potatoes, etc. which belonged to the encomiendas of Diego Vazquez de Rivadeneyra, Juan Solis, and Alonso de la Tobilla, refusing to give them any profits of the sales and instead just kept them for himself.

- Mismanagement of Money/property

 

16) That he took Yucatect natives into Tabasco who later died from illnesses due to a change in climate.

- Mistreating the locals

 

17) That he was bribed in Tabasco by Diego Alver de Soria with a horse to rule in a law suite he had.

- Bribery

 

18) That he forced La Victoria resident Elvira Ponce, young widow of Juan Solis, to remarry Juan de Villafranca, who was left with the parcels and assets of the deceased Juan Solis.

- Banishing/Force Marrying to acquire Wealth

 

19) Juan Villafranca also married one of his servants, Gabriel Hernandez to Ana de Sornoza, widow of Pedro Uribe, thus also inheriting his parcels of land.

- Banishing/Force Marrying to acquire Wealth

 

- Reyes, L.D. (1980) Historia de Tabasco. México: Consejo Editorial del Gobierno del Estado de Tabasco.