Gregorio de Hinestrosa

Gregorio de Hinestrosa was Governor of Paraguay from June 27, 1641 to February 2, 1647.

Biography Gregorio de Hinestrosa was born in the Governorate of Chile, part of the Spanish Empire's Viceroyalty of Peru. His family had a long tradition of service to the Spanish Empire in its government and military. Hinestrosa continued this himself and became an officer; he attained the rank of Maestre de Campo, the commander of a colonial militia in Chile. Hinestrosa also suffered a long captivity as a hostage of hostile Indians in Chile. After his release, he served for a time as mayor of the Atacama region of Chile. Both Hinestrosa and Cárdenas arrived in the province in 1641. Both men were proud and arrogant, and the resulting clash of personalities soon became a rivalry for power. Both Hinestrosa and Cárdenas were initially popular among the people. In 1644, however, Cárdenas began to win out in popular support. The Jesuits, who ran the nearby Jesuit reductions, threw their support behind Hinestrosa, while the Franciscans and the Paraguayan settlers supported Cárdenas. Cárdenas railed against the Jesuits, claiming they were teaching "heretical principles" to the Indians, while Hinestrosa and the Jesuits claimed that Cárdenas's ordination as bishop in 1638 by civil authorities had been invalid due to the lack of a papal order. After Escobar y Osorio's death in 1649, the Paraguayans would elect Hinestrosa's hated rival Bishop Cárdenas as governor.