In brief
During a summit of left-leaning leaders in Barcelona, Claudia Sheinbaum insisted there is no diplomatic crisis between Mexico and Spain, despite ongoing historical grievances related to Spain’s conquest of Mexico. She highlighted the strength of Mexico's Indigenous communities and noted that her visit marks the first by a Mexican president in eight years. While Spain's relations with Mexico have been strained due to past colonization, recent interactions show signs of improvement, including statements of acknowledgment from Spanish officials about the historical injustices faced during colonial times.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has said there was no diplomatic crisis with Spain after years of frosty relations over the conquest of the North American nation. There is no diplomatic crisis. There never has been. What is very important is that we recognise the strength of our country's indigenous peoples, she said as she arrived at a summit of left-leaning leaders in Barcelona on Saturday. Spain's colonisation of Mexico has become a thorny issue in recent years, prompting calls for an apology and an apparent diplomatic snub.The summit, which seeks to address a rise in illiberalism, comes as far-right leaders met in Italy for a rally against immigration and EU bureaucracy. Sheinbaum's comments came moments before she met the Barcelona summit's co-chair, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, who did not comment on the state of his nation's relations with Mexico. However, Spain's economy minister was quoted by news agency Reuters as saying that Sheinbaum's presence was a very important and positive sign of a rapprochement between the two countries. Her visit is the first by a Mexican president in eight years.Relations between Spain and Mexico deteriorated in 2019 when Sheinbaum's predecessor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, demanded that Spain apologise for human rights violations during its conquest. Spanish conquistadors killed thousands through fighting and disease as they dismantled the Aztec empire in the 16th Century. When López Obrador's request went unanswered, Sheinbaum took the unusual decision not to invite Spain's King Felipe VI to her inauguration in 2024. Spain then refused to send any Spanish representative.Recently, though, there have signs that relations had begun to thaw. King Felipe said in March that there had been a lot of abuse during the conquest of the territory that would become Mexico. There are things that, when we study them, with our present-day criteria, our values, obviously cannot make us feel proud, he had said while visiting an exhibition on indigenous Mexican women in Madrid. King Felipe's words marked the first time a Spanish monarch had publicly acknowledged abuses during the country's colonial era.It then emerged that, a month prior, Sheinbaum had invited him to the upcoming Fifa World Cup. She said that the sporting event - being hosted jointly with the US and Canada - would provide a timely opportunity to evoke the depth and unique character of the ties between Mexico and Spain, according to the Spanish royal palace. Spain's Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares won plaudits from Sheinbaum last October when he said there had been pain and injustice in the countries' shared history.Saturday's summit in Spain was the fourth meeting of the In Defence of Democracy initiative, which aims to counter extremism and illiberalism. Democracy cannot be taken for granted, Sánchez said. We are witnessing attacks on the multilateral system, one attempt after another to challenge the rules of international law, and a dangerous normalisation of the use of force.Brazil's President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva highlighted that the UN Security Council is not functioning properly. The leaders of Brazil, Mexico, and Spain later issued a joint statement agreeing to increase aid deliveries to Cuba, which they described as undergoing a humanitarian crisis. The Caribbean island nation has recently been experiencing a series of nationwide blackouts as an informal US oil blockade has exacerbated an existing fuel shortage.
