Francisco de la Mora y Ceballos

Francisco de la Mora y Ceballos was a Spanish military officer and merchant who served as governor of colonial New Mexico between March 1632 and 1635. In addition, Father Perea, a priest, worked for the Inquisition, where served as Commissary, and at the Definitory of the custody. However, later, Perea began to collaborate at the catholic mission of the Moqui Village, where he and other friars taught Christian doctrine to the indigenous population of the place to turn them into such faith. So, Fray Francisco de Porras was appointed Custodio of New Mexico, taking the place of Perea.

According to Elizabeth Ann Harper John, he expropriated the belongings of the Spaniards and Native Americans of New Mexico. In addition, he traded in Santa Barbara "nine wagons load of loot" and most of the New Mexican livestock. Three years later, the population of New Mexico suffered hunger and disease.

In 1633, Ceballos issued laws that banned the workshops in the encomiendas and the slavery of Native Americans. Ironically, the Franciscans accused Ceballos of using indigenous (particularly orphaned) and military labor. Both groups were employed on their personal ranches. The governor even raised cattle on the corn lands of several Amerindian tribes, so they were forced to abandon their crops and take care of Ceballo's livestock. In any case, the ecclesiastics' denunciation of Ceballos was not due, simply, to the labor exploitation of the indigenous people, but was due to the idea that a non-ecclesiastic should not dispose of them nor of their lands, since many friars had their own farmland in Amerindian villages and the missions had their own cattle, despite being located in Amerindian villages.