Pedro de Alvarado died in 1541, and his widow Beatriz was elected governor of Guatemala. However she soon died as well, and in 1542 her brother Francisco de la Cueva and Bishop Francisco Marroquín (1499–1563) were elected co-governors. Bartolomé de las Casas had recommended that Maldonado be appointed president of the new Audiencia of the Confines, and New Spain Viceroy Antonio de Mendoza made him governor of Guatemala and Honduras later in 1542. A group of conquistadors in Honduras insisted that it be governed separately, but they were forced to accept Maldonado.