Editing Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar (section)

==Later life==
Velázquez spent the remaining few years of his life defending his governorship in Cuba and continuing his dispute with Cortes. [[Diego Colón]] perhaps sensed that Velázquez was politically vulnerable; he sent [[Alonso de Zuazo |Alonso Zuazo]] to Cuba in January 1521, to replace the governor and conduct his ''residencia''.<ref group=note> A formal review of an official's time in office conducted at the end of his tenure</ref> However, Colon himself was in political difficulties and under investigation by the Crown. Finally, by July 1523, Colon was recalled to Spain and Velázquez was fully restored to office.<ref>Floyd p. 211-213</ref>

In 1522, [[Carlos I of Spain|Carlos I]] formally recognized Cortes as governor of New Spain, thus ending Velázquez's claims to the newly conquered territory. In 1523, Cortés made [[Cristóbal de Olid]] the leader of an expedition to conquer Honduras. While resupplying in Havana, Olid conspired with Velázquez and they agreed that Olid would renounce Cortes and capture Honduras on behalf of Velázquez. When Cortes heard of this plot, he wrote a letter of protest to the king and then dispatched his agents to Honduras where they eventually killed Olid.

Velázquez's health began to fail in the summer of 1523; a year later, he died on June 11 or 12, 1524. At his request, he was buried under the altar steps of the new cathedral in Santiago. His close associate, Gonzalo de Guzman, was the principal heir of his estate and would later serve two terms as governor. Even before he died, plans were underway to replace Velázquez. In May 1524, Carlos II named Juan Altamirano to conduct a ''residencia'' and become the new governor of Cuba.<ref>Floyd, p. 228</ref><ref>Florstedt, p. 78-79</ref>

At the time of his death at the age of 59, Velázquez was "the richest Spaniard in the Americas," despite financial losses on the expedition of Francisco Hernández de Córdoba and of Hernán Cortés. He completed the successful conquest and colonization of Cuba, founded towns that remain important today, made Cuba economically prosperous, and positioned it as a center of trade and a staging point for expeditions of conquest elsewhere.<ref>Kent, p. 375.</ref>