The Conspiracy of 1565
When New Spain Viceroy Luis de Velasco died in 1564, the cabildo (city council) of Mexico City informed Spain they did not want another viceroy. Word that the Council of the Indies in Spain would not agree to make encomiendas permanent led to a conspiracy to make New Spain independent of the mother country. In 1565, Martín Cortés, Marquess del Valle, son and heir of Hernán Cortés, and Luis, another son, were the leaders of this conspiracy (the Conspiracy of 1565).
The plot was discovered and suppressed, and some of the conspirators, including the sons of Cortés, were arrested. In 1566, before the arrival of the new viceroy, Gastón de Peralta, marqués de Falces, the Audiencia had had two conspirators beheaded. These were the brothers Alonso and Gil Gonzales de Avila. The Audiencia had also sentenced Martín and Luis Cortés to death, but the sentence had not yet been carried out. Upon his arrival, Viceroy Peralta reviewed the cases and suspended the death sentences against the sons of Cortés. They were sent back to Spain to be dealt with by the Council of the Indies. The Audiencia denounced the new viceroy for his leniency with the rebels.
Read more about this topic: Luis Carrillo
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“Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is in an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob, and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe.”
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