Don Pedro
Don Pedro 
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Mexico National Archive Reveals 1700s’ Inquisition Trial of Armenian
MEXICO CITY (News.am) - The National Archive of Mexico (AGN), which is located in the building of a former prison, preserves an interesting collection of documents on Inquisition trials of Armenians.
In 2013, Armenian-Chinese relations research fund chairman Ruben Guinea with his research group (www.eastarmhistory.com) received permission while filming the documentary titled "Andin --chronicle of the Armenian Travel" to study that collection.
One of the manuscripts of the collection written in 1731 reveals that in 1722 the son of a young Armenian merchant from New Jugha Marhada, Don Pedro (Petros), crossed the Pacific on one of the famous merchant ships, Manila Galleon, from China to Acapulco.
Don Pedro achieved great success in Mexico exporting silver to other countries. However, after a while the Inquisition accused Petros of sectarianism, since he was not a parishioner of the Catholic Church but of the Armenian Apostolic Church.
The trial lasted several years. During that period, Don Pedro was commissioned to write his autobiography which a century later appeared in the Mexican archives. Many interesting historical facts were revealed about the Armenian merchants who traveled in the early 18th century across the Pacific Ocean.
According to Guinea, the article about Don Pedro is the first among a series of stories about Armenian merchants in China and Mexico. That initiative will allow the readers to understand how widely the Armenian merchandize network was cast, with its center, Jugha.
Guinea was born in 1985 in Yerevan. In 2002 he was admitted to the Russian State Institute of Cinematography.
In 2004 Guinea moved to China and worked with “National Geographic China.” In 2010 and 2011 he headed an expedition in East Turkestan (the Xinjiang. Ruben Guinea is the author of documentaries, including a documentary titled World Cities, Shanghai (2008).
He is also an author of several scientific articles. Ruben Guinea is the winner of the Armenian President's Award (2014).
Source: California Courier Online, May 5, 2016