Editing Spanish conquest of Yucatán (section)

====Expedition from Verapaz, February – March 1696====
''[[Oidor]]'' Bartolomé de Amésqueta led the next Guatemalan expedition against the [[Itza people|Itza]]. He marched his men from [[Cahabón]] to [[Mopan people|Mopán]], arriving on 25 February 1696.<ref>Jones 1998, pp. 232–233.</ref> On 7 March, Captain Díaz de Velasco led a party ahead to the lake; he was accompanied by two [[Dominican Order|Dominican]] friars and by AjKʼixaw, an Itza nobleman who had been taken prisoner on Díaz's previous expedition.<ref name="Jones 1998, p. 233">Jones 1998, p. 233.</ref> When they drew close to the shore of [[Lake Petén Itzá]], AjKʼixaw was sent ahead as an emissary to [[Nojpetén]].<ref>Jones 1998, pp. 233–234.</ref> Díaz's party was lured into an Itza trap and the expedition members were killed to a man. The two friars were captured and sacrificed. The Itza killed a total of 87 expedition members, including 50 soldiers, two Dominicans and about 35 Maya helpers.<ref name="Jones 1998, p479n59.">Jones 1998, p. 479n59.</ref>
 
Amésqueta left Mopán three days after Díaz and followed Díaz's trail to the lakeshore. He arrived at the lake over a week later with 36 men. As they scouted along the south shore near Nojpetén they were shadowed by about 30 Itza canoes and more Itzas approached by land but kept a safe distance.<ref>Jones 1998, p. 234-235.</ref> Amésqueta was extremely suspicious of the small canoes being offered by the Itza to transport his party across to Nojpetén; as nightfall approached Amésqueta retreated from the lakeshore and his men took up positions on a small hill nearby.<ref>Jones 1998, pp. 237–238.</ref> In the early hours of the morning he ordered a retreat by moonlight.<ref>Jones 1998, pp. 238–239.</ref> At San Pedro Mártir he received news of an Itza embassy to [[Mérida, Yucatán|Mérida]] in December 1695, and an apparent formal surrender of the Itza to Spanish authority.<ref name="Jones98p240">Jones 1998, p. 240.</ref> Unable to reconcile the news with the loss of his men, and with appalling conditions in San Pedro Mártir, Amésqueta abandoned his unfinished fort and retreated to [[Guatemala]].<ref>Jones 1998, pp. 241–242.</ref>