Diego de Peñalosa Politician
Diego Dionisio de Peñalosa Briceño y Berdugo (1621–1687) was the Lima-born governor of Spanish New Mexico in 1661–1664, following his appointment to replace Bernardo López de Mendizábal in 1660.Peñalosa's administration, notable for its positive treatment of the Pueblo Indians and their religious practices, earned him the enmity of the Roman Catholic fiars determined to Christianize the native population and exploit free Indian labor, and he was declared a blasphemer and heretic by a Catholic tribunal. Forced into exile, he became an active opponent of Spanish interests and offered his services to England and France, Spain's rivals in the colonization of the New World.