Hernán Cortés, conquering hero or oppressive villain?

Mexican independence was the culmination of a historical process initiated with the Spanish conquest consummated by Hernán Cortés 500 years ago. A man who embodied, as few, the splendor and barbarism of that conquest and that Mexico judged at different times in its history, first, as the liberating hero, and then as an oppressive villain. While Spain keeps Cortés among the notable characters in its history, in Mexico it is rare to find who remembers where his grave is barely marked with an austere plaque with only his name and the years of his birth and death.