Diego Gutiérrez y Toledo

Diego Gutiérrez y Toledo (c. 1510 – December 1544) was the first governor of Nuevo Cartago y Costa Rica Province, established by the Crown of Castile within the Captaincy General of Guatemala in the Viceroyalty of New Spain. Under a new decree on November 29, 1540, the King appointed Diego Gutierrez  as governor and captain to explore and populate the portion of Veragua that lay outside the Duchy. By this time, the entity known as Veragua Real had officially ceased to exist as an administrative division due to the creation of the Duchy of Veragua. As a result, the vast Veragua was divided into two parts: the Duchy of Veragua and another region that was unified with territories on the Pacific slope previously belonging to Castilla de Oro. This territory was renamed the Gobernación de Cartago by the King. However, the first governor, Diego Gutierrez, insisted on naming it Gobernación de Cartago y Costa Rica.

He did not begin acting as such until late 1543 due to a series of difficulties. On 22 November 1543 he founded the village of Santiago in Costa Rica and on 4 October 1544 he founded the village of San Francisco, abandoning Santiago. In San Francisco he hosted several local chiefs, who he later held for ransom. One of the chiefs escaped and another one admitted not having valuables to offer. Consequently, Gutiérrez y Toledo subjected him to servitude, which prompted other indigenous groups to destroy the Spanish colony in retaliation. Gutiérrez y Toledo and the rest of the colonists then marched into the jungle, where they were killed by the natives.

Gutiérrez y Toledo was born in the village of Madrid, Crown of Castile, in 1510, to Alonso Gutiérrez de Madrid, royal treasurer, and María Rodríguez de Pisa, both judeoconversos. His brother Felipe Gutiérrez y Toledo (1500 – 1544) became the governor of Veragua.