Mexico’s President, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, has sent a letter to both Pope Francis and Spain’s King Felipe VI demanding a full account of the abuses sustained by Mexico 500 years ago during Spanish conquest.
Obrador, Mexico’s first leftist President in 70 years, is fulfilling the radical agenda he set once sworn in in December, promising to end corruption, reduce inequality, and bring millions of Mexicans out of party. On Monday he tweeted a video at an archaeological site with his wife, Beatriz, announcing his plans for an apology to the Mexican people, claiming that Spain and the Vatican owed the indigenous peoples an apology for “human rights violations”. Mexico, which possesses the world’s second largest Roman Catholic demographic (behind Brazil), also has 1/5 of its citizens of indigenous heritage. These statistics, in Obrador’s mind, call for an apology from both parties.
Spain has already refused, calling for a “constructive perspective” instead. The official letter states:
“The arrival, 500 years ago, of Spaniards to present Mexican territory cannot be judged in the light of contemporary considerations,” the government said in a statement.
“Our two brother nations have always known how to read our shared past without anger and with a constructive perspective.”
Although the Vatican has not directly responded to Obrador’s request, Pope Francis has already addressed this issue in the past, asking the Mexican people for forgiveness for “exclusion from society” on a trip to Mexico in 2016.
I found it interesting that this issue is being revisited 500 years after the fact and frankly appalling that Spain refused to apologize for such a massive loss of life. Although King Felipe is obviously in no way responsible for the events that happened, I thought it was dismissive of him to say that it “cannot be judged” by contemporary standards.
I also found it interesting that this issue was a part of Obrador’s radical agenda and that he is the first leftist Mexican President in 70 years- I wonder what caused this political shift?
Lastly, I was surprised by the sheer number of Roman Catholics and indigenous people in Mexico. Given the statistics, it makes sense that Obrador finds this to be an issue for his constituents. However, at the same time, I’m not really sure what it does for anyone to ask for an apology. It sounds like Pope Francis has already apologized in the past, and as for Spain, even if they did give the apology, it wouldn’t do much of anything for today’s citizens of Mexico. The past cannot be undone, and it may unnecessarily reopen old wounds to bring this issue back into attention.