Velazquez sets out to pacify Cuba and end the abuses against the natives.

He induces groups of natives to lay down their weapons and work near the several new towns that he establishes throughout the island.

Among these are Baracoa, Bayamo, Trinidad, Sancti Spiritus, La Habana (hereafter, Havana), Puerto Principe, and Santiago de Cuba.

In this task, Velasquez is decisively aided by the work of Bartolome de Las Casas.

The Dominican friar precede the Spaniards into native villages on many occasions and succeeds in persuading the indigenous peoples to cooperate with the conquistadors.

Las Casas, however, is horrified by the massacre of the natives and becomes an outspoken critic of the conquest of Cuba.

He writes extensively, condemning the Spaniards' cruelty and claiming that the natives are rational and free and therefore entitled to retain their lands.