Cueva, Francisco de la (c. 1501–1576)

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Cueva, Francisco de la (c. 1501–1576)

Francisco de la Cueva (b. ca. 1501; d. 1576), Spanish governor of Guatemala. Cueva accompanied the expedition of Pedro de Alvarado y Mesía to Guatemala (ca. 1524). Later, he married Alvarado's daughter Leonor, child of Alvarado's union with the Tlaxcalan princess Luisa Xicoténcatl.

Alvarado named Cueva acting governor and captain-general of Guatemala on two occasions. He was acting governor when news of Alvarado's death reached Guatemala in 1541. He was replaced by his cousin Beatriz de la Cueva De Alvarado, who was Alvarado's second wife. After her death (10 September 1541), Cueva and Bishop Francisco Marroquín were co-governors until a replacement, Alonso de Maldonado, was sent from Mexico, 17 May 1542.

See alsoGuatemala .

                                   Murdo J. MacLeod