Beatriz de la Cueva

Cueva, Beatriz de la (bāätrēsˈ dā lä kwāˈvä) [key], d. 1541, governor of Guatemala. After the death of her husband, Pedro de Alvarado, she maneuvered her own election and became the only woman to govern a major American political division in Spanish times. A young and ambitious woman who styled herself the Hapless One ( La Sin Ventura ), she was drowned a few weeks after assuming office in the destruction of Ciudad Vieja by a sudden flood from the volcano Agua.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

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