Quezacoalt God promised to come back, bringing the red color to the Aztecs, which mean they didn't had bright red colorant. Hernan Cortes, who conquered Mexico, was born in Medellin, Extremadura, a zone where cochineals were raised, in order to do "kermes", the Arabic colorant for royal Spanish family (so Joaquin Cortez did not brought cochineal from America). As a matter of a fact, cochineal was even more valuable than gold in Europe, and did not showed off as much as gold: a brown almost dead insect thing you had to squash to get a bright red colorant. Spanish King didn't trust much Joaquin Cortez so he just allowed him 250 men to conquer an unknown territory. As far nobody believed in his project, imitating Hollanders, to raise cochineal in new territories, Cortez was rewarded the worst and sicker sailor men. Can you imagine those sick and feeble Europeans, in unknown Central America jungles, meeting an Aztec warrior and squashing with fingers a cochineal in front of his eyes, making the holy Quezacoalt color to happen? That's why Barbary (North-Africa) fig isn't called Chiapas fig, in despite of the roman-looking Aztec fresco describing an eagle on prickly pears. On the top of it, Spanish could pretend Indians were so stupid they were unable to squash a cochineal to get the bright red color and were stupidly waiting for Quezacoalt to bring it.
What could be interesting is to compare genetically Opuntia from Mexico with Opuntia from Yemen (where they also traditionally eat leaves and fruits and export them). It was never done, I was told by botanists.
I think is Hernán, not Joaquín! :D Joaquín its a famous dancer, alive I hope! :D He was born in MEDELLIN, Extremadura (Spain - Peninsula).
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