Cuba was the religious administrative center of the Catholic Church in the circum-Caribbean since its diocese (established in 1517) eventually encompassed Cuba, Jamaica, and Florida. The island played a key role in the development of the Church and of the Inquisition within the Spanish empire in the region, which served as a buffer against the incursion on non-Catholic European powers in the New World. In this lecture, Leonardo Falc6n presents the latest findings of his doctoral dissertation research on the Inquisition in Cuba during the early years of the seventeenth century. Based on research in Mexico, Chile, Spain, and Cuba, he has determined that indeed there were efforts to establish an Inquisition Tribunal in Havana to counteract the English establishment of Jamestown, Virginia in 1607. The tribunal was the perfect complement to the defensive role of the Spanish military in the Caribbean frontier.
