Spain expresses regret over ‘injustice’ suffered by Mexico’s Indigenous people during conquest | Indigenous peoples
Spain acknowledged and expressed regret at the “pain and injustice” experienced by the indigenous people of Mexico during its conquest of the Americas; this heralded a change in tone after six years of diplomatic wrangling over colonial-era abuses.
In March 2019, Mexico’s then-president Andrés Manuel López Obrador wrote a letter to King Felipe VI and Pope Francis, then the leader of the world’s Roman Catholics, urging them to apologize for the “massacres and oppressions” resulting from colonialism and conquest.
The letter drew an angry response from the Spanish government, which said that Spain’s actions in Mexico 500 years ago could not be evaluated “in the light of current assessments” and that the common history of the two countries should be viewed “without anger and from a common perspective”.
But on Friday the Spanish government signaled a more conciliatory and contrite approach. Speaking at the opening ceremony An exhibition dedicated to Mexico’s Indigenous women in MadridSpanish foreign minister José Manuel Albares evaluated the common history of the countries.
“This is a very human history, and like every human history, it has its own lights and shadows,” he said. “There was also pain, suffering and injustice against the Indigenous people to whom this exhibition is dedicated. There was injustice, and it is right to acknowledge that today and to grieve for it, because it is also part of our shared history and we can neither deny nor forget it.”
These remarks came four days after Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum spoke. Apology calls renewed. “We accepted the letter sent by President López Obrador and are still waiting for a response,” he said.
Sheinbaum welcomed Albares’ comments and said they go some way toward recognizing past wrongs.
“This is a first step and speaks to the importance of what we always say: Apologizing elevates governments and people,” he said. “This is not insulting, on the contrary. I especially congratulate the foreign minister of the Spanish government on this issue.” Year of the Native Woman.”
The conquest of Mexico began in 1519, when Hernán Cortés led hundreds of soldiers, equipped with horses, carrying diseases such as smallpox, and harbored by Native groups at odds with the Aztecs, to Mexico City, then known as Tenochtitlán.
The Spanish sacked the city two years later and began converting the indigenous peoples to Catholicism.
