Background
Pedro Rodriguez Cubero was born in 1645 at Calatayud, Spain, in the Ebro valley south-west of Saragossa.
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Pedro Rodriguez Cubero
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During the nine years following 1680 he made a world cruise including in his journey parts of America, Asia, and Europe, and he then served for a time at Havana, Cuba. On June 24, 1692, the governorship of New Mexico was granted to him but he was not to take office until the end of De Vargas's term of five years. This should have occurred on February 22, 1696, but on March 3, 1697, Cubero was making demand upon the viceroy of New Spain for the office. An official investigation followed. De Vargas claimed that he had been reappointed by the viceroy, the Conde de Galve, but the records showed no confirmation from the king. The viceroy ordered Cubero to assume the office and his action was confirmed by the king, January 26, 1699. Cubero arrived in Santa Fé on July 2, 1697, and found De Vargas unwilling to surrender the governor-ship. The latter, as a result of rather arbitrary methods, had made numerous enemies. On charges preferred by the cabildo (town council of Santa Fé) Cubero placed De Vargas in prison. The following offenses were said to have been committed by De Vargas and his officers: they had appropriated money belonging to the settlers; they had been responsible for the Pueblo uprisings of 1694 and 1696 and for the famine of 1695. In addition to imprisonment De Vargas was fined 4, 000 pesos, his property was confiscated, and he was required to pay the costs of the suit. While the Pueblos of the upper Rio Grande valley had submitted to De Vargas, those west of the river including ïcoma, Zuñi and the Hopi towns were still independent. Cubero succeeded in gaining the submission of ïcoma on July 6, 1699. A week later he persuaded the Zuñi Indians to leave their citadel on Thunder Mountain and return to the valley. The Indians, who had settled in the San José Valley following the Pueblo Revolt, were officially named the Pueblo of Laguna, July 4, 1699, and the Spanish settlement nine miles northeast of Laguna was named Cubero. Several attempts were then made by Cubero to reestablish the missionary work among the Hopi towns but without success, and the missionary at Zuñi was ordered to return to the Rio Grande Valley because the military force was not large enough to protect him.
Meanwhile Cubero released De Vargas in July 1700, and the latter's case was investigated in Mexico City. In 1701 a royal decree was issued providing for De Vargas a second term at the close of Cubero's governorship.
Fearing the events that might follow with their positions reversed, Cubero left Santa Fé in August 1703, and died in Mexico in 1704. The cabildo of Santa Fé reversing itself, stated that De Vargas had labored to protect the settlements while Cubero had done nothing to prevent attacks from the nomadic tribes but had been "Solely occupied with drinking and writing papers and ascribing faults and crimes to those who had not committed them. "
