The army and the abuse of power in the labor camps of the northeast of New Spain: the captains Jacinto de Fuensaldaña y Andrés Rezabal

Abstract

This paper presents the exercise and abuse of authority in the presidios (fortress) of the northwestern New Spain concentrating in the dispute over the captaincy of the presidio in Sinaloa. In the late seventeenth century a real cédula (royal decree/ royal charter) issued in 1685 was of great importance for the regulation of the existing presidios in the northern New Spain. An example is the case of two appointments for the position of captain in the presidio of Sinaloa that lead to an interesting and informative dispute between Don Andrés de Rezábal and Don Jacinto de Fuensaldaña.