Luis de Rosas (died January 25, 1642) was a soldier who served as the ninth Spanish Governor of New Mexico from 1637 until 1641, when he was then imprisoned and assassinated.
During his administration, de Rosas clashed with the Franciscans, mainly because of his handling of the indigenous Americans, whom he forced to work for him or sold them as slaves.
[2] A De Rosas troop established a fortification around Santo Domingo to protect Santa Fe from the external attacks.
[7] De Rosas employed Native American labor to manufacture products to sell, both prisoners captured from enemy tribes and the inhabitants of several Amerindian villages.
[clarification needed] The Franciscans accused De Rosas of having accepted the capture of Apaches, some of whom were enslaved and traded in other places of New Spain,[2] while others were taken to his own workshop, in the capital of New Mexico, to work for him.
[5][2] According to the Franciscans, De Rosas introduced both Christians and non-Christian Native Americans to a situation of near–slavery, forcing them to work long hours.
[8] In addition, De Rosas was upset when he learned that the Indigenous did not have the required hides for exchange them for his knives in the Pecos Pueblo lands.
[2] However, De Rosas dismissed this, arguing that the Franciscans' objections to him began when he ordered the closure of an illegal sweatshop in a mission.
That caused the Pueblo Native Americans, who placed much importance on religion, to begin to underestimate the power the Spanish government and Church.
[8] A few months later, on January 25, 1642,[9] when De Rosas was in his cell,[2] he was killed[2][9] by the soldier Nicolás Ortiz, a native of Zacatecas (modern Mexico), who stabbed him.