The story of Diego Muriel is a disturbing one. Before marrying the cacica of Caguas, he fought for the rights to his mestizo son. The issue was the mother was a naboria india, held in an encomienda by Diego Garcia in San German. Diego Garcia only wanted to give Diego Muriel his son for a price, selling him like a slave. Diego Muriel took the case higher up in government to resolve it, and we sadly do not know the results. However, the fact that this occurred to begin with is suggestive of the few distinctions between naboria and enslaved Indians at this time (1528). Similar scenarios probably occurred elsewhere in the Spanish Antilles of this era, as white men sometimes had relationships with women they did not control. What is even more interesting is that this 1528 document seems to suggest that children in similar situations were often abused by the encomienda owners.
No comments:
Post a Comment