He was born in Valdepeñas, Spain to Luis Merlo de la Fuente and Maria Ruiz de Betena.
King Ferdinand the Catholic wanted to control the power of Military Orders and Pope Adrian VI granted orders to the Kingdom of Castile, passing to Royal Jurisdiction an important patrimony: two cities, two hundred villas (Valdepeñas among them) and a hundred of villages, distributed in an ample territory.
•
Bernardo de Balbuena, appointed Bishop of Puerto Rico in 1620, who wrote Baroque poetry extolling the beauties of Mexico.
Paul Ben-Haim: Chamber Works – ARC Ensemble, Benjamin Bowman, Erika Raum, Marie Bérard, Steven Dann, Bryan Epperson, Joaquin Valdepenas, Dianne Werner, David Louie.