"El Inquisidor de México" (The Inquisitor of Mexico) is a Novelette written by José Joaquín Pesado and published in 1838 in the magazine El Año Nuevo.
The story starts in Jalcomulco, Veracruz in 1648 and follows Duarte Ribeiro, his fiancée Sara de Córdova and his father Jacobo Ribeiro, Portuguese Jews relocated to New Spain. Duarte receives news The Spanish Inquisition is looking for his father to imprison him and fears the same fate awaits him and Sara. The very night the Ribeiros plan on escaping to Geneva, the two are caught while Jacobo manages to escape.
A year later begins the trial, spearheaded by Don Domingo Ruiz de Guevara, a strict judge that, after losing his wife, took the way of the Lord and became a priest, and whose fame and merit took him to the position of Inquisitor of Mexico, getting rid of any heathen, Jew or Muslim who stepped on the American continent. After some resisting, Sara finally confesses the religion she and her family professes, being doomed to burn at an Auto da fé.
Alone in his office, Don Domingo receives a visit from a mysterious man who requests his secrecy to get safe passage for himself and his family to Italy. Don Domingo grants it, inquiring to know who this man was. The man is none other than Jacobo Ribeiro, leader of the Jews of Veracruz. Don Domingo reprehends him but has to keep his word, so he lets Jacobo go, without his family. Jacobo tells him he's made a grave mistake, as he'll later find out at the Auto da Fe
- Church Police: Obviously.
- Corrupt Church: Duarte says nobody can live safe in a country where the Church overwhelms consciences and funds itself with the treasure of those it calls its enemies.
- Subverted by the epilogue showing Rome urging Sara to be freed and converted, whereas Madrid urges her to be burnt at the stake. The shift of blame from the Catholic Church to the Spanish government was probably more relevant in newly-independent 1830s Mexico than it was in The Cavalier Years New Spain.
- Downer Ending: Sara and Duarte end up dead.
- Heel Realization: After Sara dies, Don Domingo realises how he had acted like a fanatic and gives up his job as an inquisitor to instead become a good Catholic, helping the poor and the sick.
- Invasion of the Baby Snatchers: A Gypsy steals Don Domingo's daughter and hands her to Jacobo.
- It's All My Fault: The old woman, Sara's adoptive mother, blames herself for not telling the inquisitors about Jacobo Ribeiro teaching her the ways of Moses before.
- Luke, I Am Your Father: Don Domingo is Sara's real father.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Don Domingo's reaction upon realising Sara is his daughter, and he's sent her to die.
- Pay Evil unto Evil: Jacobo arranges the death of Don Domingo's daughter, Sara, because he executed Jacobo's brother and wife.
- Revenge by Proxy: See Pay Evil unto Evil.
- Revenge Reveal Story: During the Auto da Fé, Jacobo reaches Don Domingo's office to explain to him his plan to take revenge on him.
- You Killed My Father: Jacobo takes revenge against Don Domingo because he had previously executed his brother Jaime Ribeiro and his wife Leonarda Nuñez.
