ZUAZO, Alonso (thoo-ah'-tho), Spanish jurist, born in Ohnedo in 1466; died in Santo Domingo in 1527. He was canon of Valladolid and well known for his erudition, when he was attached as jurist to the commission that was sent by Cardinal Ximenes to the New World at the solicitation of Bishop Las Casas. Zuazo's instructions gave him the power of organizing justice in the West Indies, and appointing" judges at his own discretion. After liberating the Indians in Santo Domingo that had been reduced to slavery by the Spanish officials, Zuazo advised the commissioners to oppose Las Casas's schemes of prohibiting forced labor entirely, and thus won the support of the settlers, while Las Casas denounced him to the court. Zuazo befriended both the Indians and settlers, while he was opposed by the officials. After Ximenes had surrendered the regency to Charles V. Zuazo was sent to Cuba in 1518 to organize the administration of justice there. At Diego Velazquez's ads, ice, he went afterward to Mexico to settle the quarrel between Garay and Cortes concerning the government of Panuco, and was well received by Cortes. In 1523 he returned to Cuba, and two years later was appointed auditor of the audiencia of Santo Domingo, which post he retained till his death. An interesting memoir of Zuazo on the condition of the Indians in Santo Domingo and Cuba, written from Cuba in 1521, was published by Joaquin Garcia Icazbalceta in his "Colleccidn de Documentos para la Historia de Mexico " (Mexico, 1858-'66), and another in which Zuazo recounts the cruelties of the Spaniards in Santo Domingo and Cuba, is mentioned by Icazbalceta.