Lago de Maracaibo: Cacao, the Jewish Faith and the Inquisition
Address:
Maracaibo,, Venezuela
Category: Theobroma Cacao L: Criollio
In the seventeenth century, cacao was traded between the Kingdom of New Spain (Mexico) and Venezuela. There is a record of a trade between Antonio Mendez Chillon, a *crypto-Jew from Portugal who, in 1629 landed in Mexico from Angola as a slave trader. and Antonio de Orozco, a purchasing agent from the Maracaibo coastal town of San Antonio de Gibraltar. The consignment, consisting of 677.5 millares of cacao, was confiscated, along with all other money and property by the Inquisition after Mendez Chillon was arrested for Heresy, his crime being his Jewish faith. [continued at http://www.thecacaoworld.com]
