Diego López Pacheco, 7th Duke of Escalona

While still in Veracruz, he was informed of the pressing need to reinforce the Armada de Barlovento, which guarded the coast and shipping from corsairs.

In 1641 Luis Cetin de Canas, governor of Sinaloa solicited and obtained the viceroy's approval to send an expedition to colonize the Californias with Jesuit missionaries.

Also during López Pacheco's term, a change occurred in the parish churches of the colony; a majority of them were now held by secular clergy rather than the regular friars.

In the previous year (1640) a revolution broke out in Portugal, and the Duke of Braganza, a first cousin of the viceroy, was crowned King John IV, initiating the Portuguese Restoration War.

To allay the suspicions, López Pacheco ordered that all Portuguese residents in New Spain register with the government, for control of their movements, possessions and activities.

The bishop arrived secretly in the capital, and in the middle of the night of June 9/10, he met with the Audiencia and laid out his suspicions.