The Spanish crown touches a historical nerve
Felipe VI has just put his finger on the sore spot. During a visit to an exhibition in Madrid, the monarch acknowledged that there was “a lot of abuse” during the Conquest of Mexico. He didn’t apologize, but his words are the closest we’ve come to real recognition in years.
And of course, this did not fall on deaf ears. It instantly revived the eternal debate about the apologies that Mexico has been crying out for for five years.
A letter that no one wanted to sign
All this comes from afar. In 2019, Andrés Manuel López Obrador dropped the bomb: a formal letter to Spain and the Vatican asking for forgiveness for grievances against indigenous peoples. The Spanish response was an elegant diplomatic slam of the door: “the facts cannot be judged under current criteria”.
AMLO did not give up. He repeated the claim throughout his six-year term, turning it into a thorn in the side of the bilateral relationship. The tensions reached such a point that in 2022 there was even an official “pause” between both governments.
“An apology does not weaken nations, but rather contributes to reconciliation between peoples”
— Claudia Sheinbaum, supporting her predecessor’s position
With Sheinbaum in Los Pinos, the issue is still alive. The new president has picked up the baton and maintains the pressure, although with a different tone. The message is clear: Mexico does not forget and will not tire of asking for historical accounts.
The curious thing is that, despite this uncomfortable diplomatic struggle, business continues. The economic and political ties are maintained, as if there were two parallel relationships: the officially tense one and the one that continues to function by inertia.
The King’s statement is significant because it comes from where it was least expected: the Crown, not the Government. It is a historical nod that probably will not heal wounds, but at least exposes them to public light again. And in this game of memory and diplomacy, that is something.
