The tianguez or market played a central role in the economic life of the Chorotega towns, for which commerce and labor practices of certain complexity had to exist. These markets were tended by women, men were not permitted to enter, except for young people who had never had sexual relations. Men who violated such prohibitions could be stoned, be sold as slaves or be sold as cannibal fodder. Presiding over the markets were judge-administrators elected once every four months by the monéxico, according to Fernández de Oviedo:
