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A related finding - a group (not Mayan, but not quite the Aztecs either) imprisoned an entire Conquistador convoy (Spaniards, Africans, and American Indians) for months and gradually sacrificed and cannibalized them. So the "anyone and everyone" at least in its later incarnations also included unusual foreigners.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/oct/10/conquistadors-...

Or maybe they were e.g. sacrificed to spare their loved ones. --> if they were freed then maybe their family would have to provide someone else?

The Spanish might be unreliable narrators. Perhaps we cant trust their assessment of situation and even less their reports. They could have been wrong in many ways.