Diario las Américas., 1958-07-23
Know thy
NeighborI
BY RUIZ
N o HI NEIGHBOR

KNOW THY NEIGHBOR =. II
MEXICO - When Herman Cor
ties, who had studied law and was
one of the most educated among
the Spanish conquistadores, landed
in Tabasco, Southern Mexico, in
1919, he defeated an Indian army,
chiefly because his horses frigh-
tened the native warriors, who had
never seen such four-footed mons
ters." The Tabascans then pres
ented him with gold and many
slaves, among which was a girl
who had been born a princess of a
rich and powerful Aztec tribe. The
Spaniards named her Dona Marina.
Further up the coast, the
SpaniardS met some well-dressed
messengers, but their interpreter,
who spoke Tabascan, could not
understand them. Dona Marina,
seeing the difficulty, stepped for
ward, questioned the messengers
and explained matters to the in
%terpreter, for she spoke both the
Aztec and Tabascan languages. In
this way, and with her intelligent
advice, Dona Marina helped Cortes
against her own tribe. The
messengers were from the great
Emperor of the Aztecs, Moctezuma.
They kept secret the most impor-
tant reason for their visit, which
was to find out if CorteS was
Quetzalcoatl.
According to Mexican legend, a
light-skinned god, Quezaltcoatl, had
lived in Mexico centuries before.
He had taught the Indians astro-
nomy, architecture, and many
useful arts, but had become
disguised with the people and
sailed across the sea-. Before leav-
ing, however, he had promised:
"At some future time, l shall
return from far-off lands, from
the direction where the sun rises,
and shall bring with me my sons,
81 t-skinned and bearded gods like
myself, and l shall rule over you"
One of the messengers drew a
picture of Cortes on a cotton cloth.
and taking this and some presents
from the Sparniard, they went
back to report to Moctezuma. The
Emperor consulted all his wise
men, astrologers, seers and ma
gicians, but he could not i'm
mediately make up his mind
whether Cortes was Q~uetzacoatl or
not. He. sent the messengers once
more, this time carrying a huge
calendar disk of gold as big as a
cart wheel, and another one of
silver, and asking Cortes to please
60 away.
Further north Cortes was
welcomed by the "cacique" or
leader of the TotonecS. While thew
were speaking, five naughty tax
collectors from Moctezuma arrived
to collect tribute. Cortes insisted
that the cacique put them in
prison, but later freed them all
and sent them back to Moctezuma
with this message: "YOu see. | am
your friend" BY this means, he
succeeded in making the Totonecs
rebel against Moctezuma. At the
same time, he also wanted to
prevent. them from preparing war
against him. This is an example
OF the complicated methods Cortes
always used.
Nearby, he laid the plans for a
city, named it Veracruz, and
helped his men to begin building
1t, When they discovered, however,
that this was to be the base for a
march upon Moctezuma's capital.
many of them announced they had
had enough of the expedition and
wanted to go home. Cortes met
this threat boldly. He had holes
bored in all the ships, so that they
fllled with water and sank.
Their ships destroyed this way
Cortes and his men had no choice
but to continue their march inland
Moreover, Cortes had another
serious reason for not wanting to
60 back to Cuba, from where he
had sailed. He had disobeyed the
order of Governor Velazquez, who
had relieved him of his command
when he was preparing for the
expedition, caneelling it. Cortes,
however, had ignored the with
drawal of his appointment, and
had set out along the southwestern
coast of Cuba, acquiring more men
and supplies. Since in those DAYS
to disregard an order like that
often meant being hanged, Cortes
chose to try the conquest of the
Mexican Indians, including the all
powerful Moctezuma. = Continued
tomorrow.
Spanish Version PAGE -