Note XXXVII‑51 — Chapter XXXVII · GUATEMALA AND CHIAPAS. 1701-1800.

José Vazquez Prego Montados y Sotomayor, of the order of Santiago, lieutenant-general of the royal armies, and commander-general of the forces before Gibraltar, assumed office January 17, 1752. He died at Guatemala June 24, 1753, from the effects of a cold contracted during an official visit to Omoa, whose fortress he had ordered built. From the date of his death the senior oidor, Juan de Velarde y Cienfuegos, governed until October 17th of the following year, when his successor, Alonso de Arcos y Moreno, arrived. He was a knight of the order of Santiago, mariscal de campo, and subsequently lieutenant-general of the royal armies. This latter appointment, however, did not arrive until after his death, which occurred October 27, 1760. The oidor Velarde again assumed charge of the presidency, and when relieved in the following year was transferred to the audiencia of Mexico, subsequently to that of Granada, and eventually became a member of the council of the Indies. On the 14th of June 1761 Alonso Fernandez de Heredia, mariscal de campo, took possession of the presidency. He had already served as governor in the provinces of Nicaragua, Honduras, Florida, and Yucatan. Joaquin de Aguirre y Oquendo was appointed to succeed him, but the latter dying at Guatemala April 9, 1764, when about to take possession of office, Heredia continued in charge till Dec. 3, 1765, when he was relieved by Pedro de Salazar y Herrera, Natera y Mendoza. He remained in Guatemala, where he died March 19, 1772, while undergoing his residencia. President Salazar was a knight of the order of Monteza, commander of Vinaroz and Benicarlo, captain of grenadiers of the royal Spanish guards, and mariscal de campo of the royal armies. Like President Sotomayor, he, too, experienced the fatal effects of the climate of Omoa, for he died May 10, 1771, from a disease contracted while on a visit to that port. His successor, President Mayorga, did not arrive till June 1773, the government in the interim being administered by the senior oidor, Juan Gonzales Bustillo y Villaseñor. This officer was subsequently transferred to the audiencia of Mexico, thence to the India House at Cádiz, and finally to the supreme council of the Indies. Juarros, Guat., i. 270-1; Arévalo, Col. Doc. Antig., 157-9; Escamilla, Not. Cur., 7; Cadena, Breve Descrip., 26.