Mexico’s Sheinbaum travels to Barcelona for ‘progressive’ confab, tension-easing talks with Spain

MEXICO CITY — Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum visited Spain this weekend on a two-pronged mission: to show solidarity with other “progressive” global leaders and to ease rising tensions with Mexico’s onetime colonial overseer.

But before he embarked on his first trip to Europe as Mexican president, Sheinbaum sought to clarify what he called a misunderstanding.

“No, this is not an anti-Trump rally,” Sheinbaum told reporters Thursday. “Not at all.”

Still, the gathering of leftist heads of state who favor “peaceful solutions to conflicts,” as Sheinbaum puts it, was more a matter of Pope Benedict XIV than a statement from the White House. It’s similar to Leo’s condemnation of “war enthusiasm.”

Joining Sheinbaum at the Global Progressive Mobilization in Barcelona on Saturday will be a group of left-wing leaders including Brazil’s Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Colombia’s Gustavo Petro, both of whom have issues with President Trump.

Hosting the meeting will be Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez, who became for many an anti-war champion overnight when Madrid turned down a US request to use Spanish bases in the war against Iran.

“We respect President Trump,” Sheinbaum said before leaving for Spain, displaying the “cool” pragmatic tone that typifies his relations with his flamboyant US counterpart. “He’s making decisions that we don’t think are right, but that’s another story.”

Still, some observers in Mexico see Sheinbaum’s trip to Spain as a potentially dangerous path.

They note that the summit has the potential to turn into an anti-Trump extravaganza. That could anger the White House as negotiators from the United States, Mexico and Canada kick off talks on a revamped free trade agreement that is a cornerstone of Mexico’s export-dependent economy.

Columnist Alejo Sánchez Cano in Mexico’s El Financiero newspaper wrote that the incident “happened at a critical moment.” “Any sign of ideological conformity that could be interpreted as alienation from society” [U.S.] “The agenda brings with it a risk factor.”

It seems less risky for Sheinbaum to reach out in a conciliatory way to Spain, which has long had close cultural and economic ties with Mexico, home to the world’s largest Spanish-speaking population.

But since 2019, the two countries have entered such a deep diplomatic freeze that Madrid has sent no official representatives to Sheinbaum’s 2024 inauguration celebrating her ascension as Mexico’s first female president. Spanish officials, King VI. He says they were upset that Felipe wasn’t invited.

Behind the conflict are competing narratives about the historical memory between Mexico and Spain, which ruled Mexico for three centuries, starting with the Spanish conquest in 1521.

As we approach the 500th anniversary of the conquest in 2021, then-Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador wrote what has become an infamous letter: He demanded that the Spanish monarchy apologize for the atrocities committed against Indigenous peoples during the subjugation of Mexico.

Madrid rejected the request and described it as an insult. Spanish officials argued that contemporary standards could not be used to judge a country’s past.

This paved the way for the ongoing bilateral rift, although Mexico City and Madrid never severed formal diplomatic ties. López Obrador described it as a “pause” in relations.

The dispute began at a time when anger over Spain’s colonial legacy had largely diminished and many Mexicans were celebrating their mixed European and Indigenous heritages. Spanish restaurants, cafes and cultural centers are located throughout Mexico, a major tourist destination for Spaniards, as many Mexicans visit Spain.

The turmoil in 20th-century Europe saw a new influx of Spanish immigrants. Former Mexican President Lázaro Cardenas, who welcomed Spaniards fleeing their country’s fratricidal (1936-39) civil war, remains revered among many who trace their roots to Spain.

“My father and grandfather always talked about their love for Mexico and how proud they were to live in this country,” said Roberto López Díaz, 62, a Mexican businessman of Spanish origin. “Fortunately, neither of them were here to see the government’s decision to freeze friendly relations with Spain.”

Sheinbaum carefully pursued his effort to rebuild bilateral relations. He often repeated his mentor’s claim about colonial-era atrocities in Mexico.

“There were massacres against indigenous communities, they were forced to believe in one religion,” Sheinbaum said last week. The idea that the Spanish “came to be civilized is not an idea we should share.”

He stated that the decision to visit Spain was due to the recent conciliatory gestures of Spanish leaders. Some have sought to clarify past suggestions—still prevalent on the Spanish right—that Spain brought “civilization” to a “backward” Mexico.

Spanish foreign minister José Manuel Albares acknowledged that Spanish colonial actions caused “injustice and suffering” for Mexican indigenous communities.

Last month, while visiting a museum exhibit of Mexican indigenous women, King Felipe acknowledged that the actions of the Spanish conquistadors involved “a lot of abuse” and raised “ethical debates.”

Still, Sheinbaum emphasized that his visit to Spain was not an official state visit. Her meeting with Felipe was also not planned.

The bitter wave of historical memory appears to have had little or no impact on business, tourism and other links between Spain and Mexico. And today, the governments in Mexico City and Madrid share something else: progressive, left-wing leadership at odds with the White House’s agenda of hostility to foreign conflicts and immigration.

In both Spain and Mexico, commentators mostly welcomed the prospect of an end to the mini-Cold War between two countries with such deep ties.

The Spanish newspaper El País wrote in a recent editorial that ultraconservative movements on both sides of the Atlantic are using the Mexico-Spain conflict “to incite hate speech.” “The two countries are today guided by similar political models. … Rebuilding ties is an urgent need at this time.”

Buried in the wall of a weathered, colonial-era church in downtown Mexico City are the remains of Spain’s most infamous conquistador: Hernán Cortés’ forces, which by all accounts waged a brutal—some describe it as genocidal—campaign to overthrow the Aztec empire.

Cortés remains a despised figure by many in Mexico. But Father Efraín Trejo Martínez, pastor of Jesús Nazareno Church, said visitors are always respectful.

“It always seems strange to me that people criticize the past through the eyes of the present,” Trejo said. “The past is the past and had its own reality.”

Special correspondent Cecilia Sánchez Vidal contributed to this report.