The Colombian-American actor made several surprising discoveries on 'Finding Your Roots.'
His seventh great-grandfather, Sancho Londoño Zapata, worked as a local administrator for the Spanish crown and was the richest person in his area at the time of his death.Leguizamo was shocked to see how far back his lineage goes. “I can’t believe I got a ninth great-grandfather. What, are you gonna go to the beginning of time?”
So when Leguizamo heard that de Belalcázar helped conquer several areas with indigenous people and obtained"vast amounts amounts of gold" for Spain, he felt mixed emotions. "I had a feeling it had to go," Leguizamo mused."I hope they put it in a museum. Maybe it doesn't need to be.""I'm not against that. I understand the horrors of destroying a people's culture, language and religion and stealing all that they had and now they're living in squalor. No I'm not for that," he said.
The actor instantly wondered why he doesn't share Vargas-Cualla's last name. As it turns out, Vargas-Cualla never claimed his son so Leguizamo’s grandmother gave her child her own last name.Vargas-Cualla owned several properties and had children with multiple women, including Leguizamo’s grandmother. He was a rich, prominent figure.
Moving back two generations in Vargas-Cualla's family, the team found Higinio Cualla, Leguizamo’s great-grandfather. Higinio Cualla was a lauded mayor of Bogota, Colombia for 16 years, serving from 1884 to 1900. He was credited with modernizing the city.
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