Acknowledgment shows shift in tone after six years of diplomatic spats over colonial-era abuses
Spain has acknowledged and expressed regret over the “pain and injustice” suffered by the Indigenous people of Mexico during its conquest of the Americas, heralding a shift in tone after six years of diplomatic spats over the abuses of the colonial period.
In March 2019, Mexico’s then president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador wrote to King Felipe VI and Pope Francis, who was then the leader of the world’s Roman Catholics, urging them to apologise for the “massacres and oppression” of colonialism and the conquest.
The letter drew an angry response from the Spanish government, which said Spain’s actions in Mexico 500 years ago could not be judged “in the light of contemporary considerations” and that the two countries’ common history should be viewed “without anger and from a shared perspective”.
On Friday, however, the Spanish government signalled a more conciliatory and penitent approach. Speaking at the inauguration of an exhibition in Madrid dedicated to the Indigenous women of Mexico, Spain’s foreign minister, José Manuel Albares, reflected on the countries’ joint history.
