Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum acknowledged on Monday Spain's “different approach” to colonization, citing King Felipe VI and Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares, but insisted that “they plundered our territories for 300 years”. She made the remarks in her morning press conference ahead of a trip to Barcelona, where she will meet Pedro Sánchez. No meeting with the king is planned.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum gave a nuanced assessment of Spain's recent gestures regarding the Conquest and colonization of America. In her morning press conference on April 13, she highlighted the “different approach” shown over the past year by Pedro Sánchez's government and the Royal Household, including King Felipe VI's remarks on March 16 recognizing “mucho abuso” and “controversias éticas”, and Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares's admission of “dolor e injusticia” to indigenous peoples.
She insisted, however, on the Mexican perspective: “It was very violent and, moreover, they plundered our territories for 300 years”. She noted it is not “all we would have wanted” but acknowledged progress. She proposed sending Mexican exhibitions and anthropologists to Spain to explain pre-Hispanic civilizations and the Spanish arrival.
The statement comes amid thawing relations after tensions sparked in 2019 when Andrés Manuel López Obrador requested an apology for abuses against indigenous peoples, which Spain rejected. In October 2024, Felipe VI was not invited to Sheinbaum's inauguration, and Spain sent no representative. Reconciliation steps include Spain as guest of honor at the Guadalajara Book Fair in 2024 and the Princess of Asturias Award to Mexico's National Museum of Anthropology in 2025. Sheinbaum has invited the king to the World Cup in Mexico in June.
Sheinbaum will travel to Barcelona on Friday for the Global Progressive Mobilisation congress, where she will speak alongside Sánchez and Lula da Silva. She confirmed a bilateral meeting with the Spanish prime minister, though not a state visit, to promote cultural initiatives on indigenous perspectives. At the forum, she will advocate for peace and prioritizing the poor over wars.
