Gonzalo Guerrero was a XVI century spanish conquer. He took part in one of the first expeditions for conquering Tierra Firme, and suffer a misadventure on the high seas that, along with the other spanish men, turned him into a castaway of unknown lands supposedly inhabited by fierce cannibals.
As a simple mortal, life put him into lots of penalties and faced him into a terrible dilema: in the middle of a war he had to take a part of one side, being an active member of both sides. Inevitably, any of them would drag him into violence and destruction of those who, at some point of his life, were one of “his own”.
Naturalmente he recibido de amigos algunas solicitudes y comentarios.
The history of our kind tell us about thousands of wars commited by material interest, dressed as religious motives and such, that normaly, were just about taking away the natural resources of other towns (such as lands, oil, etc.). Soilders who took part of those wars, assumed their mission just looking for fame, fortune, patriotic dutty or religious, and generaly ended up transformed into insensitive monsters. (Most recent wars shows us today soilders destroying civil populations without any concern).
Gonzalo is different. He was prepared as a medieval soilder; provided from a powerful religious vision that justified his mission, and allowed him being atrocious with the enemy. However, Gonzalo could see in “the other” a human being just like him. And it seems that this made him overcome his fears, his ideological conditioning, and decided to stay for his adoptive community. His merits were considered not for staying in Yucatán and fighting for the mayans, but for recognizing humanity in the enemy and building a path of comunication amongs equals in the middle of a war.
At least for me, that was the biggest event in his life; reaching the vision that allowed him to turn from an arrogant conquerer into a enemy of a false justyfied invasion. After that, he just acted in consequence, knowing that he would be defeated.
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In June of 2011, it was celebrated in Cancún, Quintana Roo, México, the Meeting of the V Centenary, Gonzalo Guerrero and the Miscegenation. Amongst a wonderful Gonzalist audience, willing to learn, I prommised to make a web site. Afterwards, the documentary Between two worlds. History of Gonzalo Guerrero, saw the public light (TVUNAM and NatGeo 2013), which made a shoutout without precedent for Gonzalo. I heard news of how people loved it in México (especially in the Peninsula of Yucatán), Spain, Portugal and some parts of Africa.
For such motives, I decided to make this web site, so I can offer more information about anything you wish to know, and taking advantage of the wave of commentaries that the documentary unleashed. This site will be on permanent construction, constantly updated with any news that can come up to, because history is like the harvest of women “it never ends”.
Iván Vallado Fajardo
NOTE: Web site on line since sunday the 17th of November of 2013. Designed thinking in people interested by Gonzalo Guerrero as a historic character. Open, and for educational purposes, and nonprofit. Respects copyright of anything said here (sources are being mentioned or indicated at the end of the text or image). Thank you.