One of the goals behind the Codex Espangliensis is to deconstruct the western version of history and call into question the Spanish claim to the New World and the legitimacy of the conquest. In "Auctioning the New World," Gomez-Peña plays out a satirical scene in which curiosities from the New World are auctioned. He calls out for bidders on such rarities as “Pre Columbian condoms in three sizes…The original skull of baby Moctezuma…[and] 3-D photos of the secret sexual life of Christopher Cojeló [Columbus].” This mockery of cultural tourism and consumerism becomes a critique of imperialism when Gomez-Peña begins to auction “land titles from Brazil…virgin oil wells in Tobasco…and nuclear maquiladoras in Tecate.” Overseeing the auction from the top of a mountain are the gods Tlaloc and Chalchiuhtlicue, here borrowed from the pages of the Codex Borbonicus. On the left Superman flies out from the page, with another woodcut from Las Casa’s A Brief Account of the Destruction of the Indies in the background, yet the hero does nothing to protect the indigenous population.
