After almost seven years of reproaches, snubs and tensions due to the colonial past, Mexico and Spain have reconciled and agreed to normalize their relations.
“There is no diplomatic crisis. There never has been,” declared the president upon her arrival at the summit of leftist leaders held on Saturday in Barcelona (Spain).
“The most important thing is that we recognize the strength of the indigenous peoples of our country,” he added.
The Spanish colonization of Mexico became a thorny issue between both countries, which has generated requests for apologies and a diplomatic snub.
Sheinbaum’s statements came moments before meeting with the host of the event, the president of the Spanish government, Pedro Sánchez, who assured that he shares a “great harmony” with the Mexican president.
Immediately afterwards, the Spanish president stated on his X account (formerly Twitter) that both had agreed to “continue strengthening our special cultural, economic and social ties.”
For his part, the Spanish Minister of Economy, Carlos Body, described Sheinbaum’s presence as “a very important and positive sign of the rapprochement between the two countries,” reported the Reuters agency.
making memory
Sheinbaum’s visit to Spain was the first by a Mexican president in eight years.
Tensions began in 2019 when Sheinbaum’s predecessor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, demanded that Spain apologize for human rights violations committed during the conquest.
Spanish conquistadors killed thousands of people in battle and from disease as they dismantled the Aztec empire and other civilizations in the 16th century.
When López Obrador’s request went unanswered by Madrid, Sheinbaum made the unusual decision of not inviting King Felipe VI to his inauguration in 2024. Spain described what happened as “unacceptable” and decided not to send any representative to the ceremony.
However, in recent months there have been signs that relations have begun to improve.
Last March, King Philip said that “there was a lot of abuse” during the conquest of the territory that would later become Mexico.
“There are things that, when we study them, we know them, you say: ‘Well, in our criteria today, with our values, obviously they cannot make us feel proud.’ But we have to know them and in their proper context, not with excessive ethical presentism, but with an objective and rigorous analysis,” she said during a visit to an exhibition on indigenous Mexican women in Madrid.
The king’s words marked the first time that a Spanish monarch publicly acknowledged the excesses committed during the country’s colonial era.
Subsequently, it became known that Sheinbaum had invited the sovereign to the opening ceremony of the next Soccer World Cup, which will take place in June.
According to the Spanish Casa Genuine, the president stated that the sporting event, organized jointly with the United States and Canada, will provide “a timely opportunity to evoke the depth and unique character of the ties between Mexico and Spain.”
Spain’s Foreign Minister, José Manuel Albares, received praise from Sheinbaum last October when he stated that there had been “pain and injustice” in the shared history of both countries.
In statements to journalists, Sheinbaum assured on Saturday that he invited Sánchez to visit Mexico next year.
An alliance for peace
Saturday’s summit in Spain was the fourth meeting of the “In Defense of Democracy” initiative, which aims to counter extremism and illiberalism.
“Democracy cannot be taken for granted,” said Sánchez.
“We are witnessing attacks on the multilateral system, one attempt after another to challenge the norms of international law and a dangerous normalization of the use of force,” added the Spanish leader.
For his part, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, co-president of the initiative, declared that the United Nations Security Council does not function and that its five permanent members – the US, China, Russia, France and the United Kingdom -, all with the right to veto, have become “warlords.”
“No president of any country in the world, no matter how powerful, has the right to impose rules on other countries,” Lula warned.
Subsequently, the leaders of Brazil, Mexico and Spain issued a joint statement in which they announced that they had agreed to increase aid to Cuba, a country they described as mired in a “humanitarian disaster.”
The Caribbean nation has recently suffered a series of nationwide blackouts, as an informal oil blockade imposed by the US has exacerbated existing fuel shortages.
The countersummit
Meanwhile, in Milan, thousands of supporters of Patriots for Europe, a right-wing group in the European Parliament, gathered for a demonstration.
The group’s leader, Jordan Bardella, who also heads France’s far-right National Rally (RN), participated alongside the event’s organizer, Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, and Geert Wilders, leader of the Dutch far-right PVV party.
Bardella said immigration and “increasingly strict regulations imposed by the European Commission and the European Union on European industry and eurozone economies” would be among the issues leaders would address.
“In Europe, the Alliance of Patriots is the only true adversary of the Brussels bureaucrats who serve a few businessmen and warmongers,” Salvini declared to the crowd.
Hungary’s outgoing Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, whose Fidesz party is also part of Patriots for Europe, was not present at the rally. Orbán was defeated in the general election held last week by Péter Magyar, a former ally.
*with information from Kathryn Armstrong
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- Sheinbaum recognizes “the gesture” of the King of Spain Felipe VI, who said that “there was a lot of abuse” in the conquest of Mexico
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