Article

2019-03-27 Caribbean-Latin America

Mexico demands apology for colonial 'abuses,' Spain says no

[DAWN] The 500-year-old wounds of the Spanish conquest were ripped open afresh on Monday when Mexico's president urged Spain and the Vatican to apologise for their "abuses" ‐ a request Madrid said it "firmly rejects."

Spain's centuries of dominance in the New World, backed by the Catholic Church, leapt from the history books to the headlines when Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador called on Spanish King Felipe VI and Pope Francis to apologise for the conquest and the rights violations committed in its aftermath.

"I have sent a letter to the king of Spain and another to the pope, calling for a full account of the abuses and urging them to apologise to the indigenous peoples (of Mexico) for the violations of what we now call their human rights
...which are often intentionally defined so widely as to be meaningless...
," Lopez Obrador said.

He made the remarks in a video, filmed at the ruins of the indigenous city of Comalcalco and posted on Facebook and Twitter.

"There were massacres and oppression. The so-called conquest was waged with the sword and the cross. They built their churches on top of the (indigenous) temples," added the anti-establishment leftist.

"The time has come to reconcile. But let us ask forgiveness first."

Spain's rejection was immediate and blunt.

"The government of Spain deeply regrets that the letter the Mexican president sent to his majesty the king, whose contents we firmly reject, has been made public," it said in a statement.

"The arrival, 500 years ago, of Spaniards to present Mexican territory cannot be judged in the light of contemporary considerations," it said.

"Our two brother nations have always known how to read our shared past without anger and with a constructive perspective."

Posted by Fred 2019-03-27 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11134 views ] Top

#1 Just rips at your heart, doesn't it?

Posted by Procopius2k 2019-03-27 07:27|| 2019-03-27 07:27|| Front Page Top

#2 Will the Mexican gov't nullify the laws that suppress the Mayas?

Posted by AlmostAnonymous5839 2019-03-27 08:48|| 2019-03-27 08:48|| Front Page Top

#3 I see what you did there, P2K. My thought exactly.

Posted by gorb 2019-03-27 09:11|| 2019-03-27 09:11|| Front Page Top

#4 How many of Cortez's army were the tribes that lived around Tenochtitlan that "donated" those hearts?

Posted by AlanC 2019-03-27 09:28|| 2019-03-27 09:28|| Front Page Top

#5 My understanding, perhaps wrong was that when presented with a long list of Spanish demands including religious conversion and supplying troops the Tlaxcalans had only one question, 'Do we get to kill Aztecs?'. A simple Yes was all that was required to seal the deal.

Posted by Cesare 2019-03-27 09:54|| 2019-03-27 09:54|| Front Page Top

#6 Is Mexico going to apologize for all the modern technology they use? If Spain hadn't invaded, the would probably still be using stone tools.

Posted by Rambler in Virginia 2019-03-27 10:59|| 2019-03-27 10:59|| Front Page Top

#7 I'd aways understood that the bulk of Modern Mexican citizens were of Spanish descent and their own indigenous peoples are fairly ill treated so it's pretty bold to be making claims of Spain and pretending to be victims.

Posted by rjschwarz 2019-03-27 12:11|| 2019-03-27 12:11|| Front Page Top

#8 Spain's Answer: "Deseo en una mano Mierda en el otro. Ver qué mano se llena primero"

Posted by Vespasian Unairt7733 2019-03-27 12:50|| 2019-03-27 12:50|| Front Page Top

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