Mexico’s president on Friday said that his country’s relations with Spain are still “on pause,” one day after Mexico’s top diplomat met with his Spanish counterpart and said relations were being “relaunched.”
The confusing about-face involves years-old complaints by Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador about Spanish companies operating in Mexico, and Spain’s refusal to apologize for abuses committed during the conquest of Mexico in the colonial era.
Mexico’s foreign policy appears to be largely conducted by Lopez Obrador, who also recently placed relations with Peru “on pause.”
Photo: Reuters
Lopez Obrador said that Mexico still recognizes former Peruvian president Pedro Castillo as the country’s leader despite lawmakers removing him from office last week for trying to dissolve Congress before a scheduled impeachment vote.
Mexican Secretary of Foreign Affairs Marcelo Ebrard on Thursday met with Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs Jose Manuel Albares.
“We are entering into a relaunching regarding bilateral relations,” Ebrard said.
The two embraced and spoke of new cooperation during the meeting of the Spain-Mexico Bilateral Commission.
However, Lopez Obrador on Friday contradicted Ebrard, saying: “No, the pause continues, because there is no attitude of respect on their part.”
In February, Lopez Obrador said Spanish companies were taking unfair advantage of private-sector openings to sign crooked contracts to build power plants in Mexico.
In 2020, Lopez Obrador sent a letter asking Spain to apologize for the brutality of the 1521 conquest of Mexico and centuries of colonial rule.
“I sent a respectful letter to the head of state, the king of Spain, and he didn’t even have the courtesy to answer me,” the president said on Friday. “They said we had to thank them for coming here and colonizing us, and later with the companies, the same arrogant attitude.”
The Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs quickly responded in a statement.
“The government of Spain emphatically rejects the comments by the president of Mexico about His Majesty the King, Spanish companies and Spanish political sectors,” it said. “These statements are incomprehensible after a successful Bilateral Commission that offered so many concrete results.”
The situation has put Ebrard in a difficult spot. He reportedly hopes to be nominated by the president’s Morena party to succeed Lopez Obrador. Ebrard cannot publicly disagree with the president, although he suggested that the Thursday meeting had been approved by Lopez Obrador.
Mexico’s 2020 letter said: “The Catholic Church, the Spanish monarchy and the Mexican government should make a public apology for the offensive atrocities that Indigenous people suffered.”
The letter came as Mexico marked the 500th anniversary of the 1519-1521 conquest, which resulted in the death of a large part of the country’s pre-Hispanic population.
Lopez Obrador had asked Spain for an apology for the conquest in 2019. Then-Spanish minister of foreign affairs Josep Borrell said his country “will not issue these apologies that have been requested.”
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