Europa Press
The king sends a message of unity and brotherhood in the midst of a diplomatic crisis between Spain and Mexico
04 Oct 2024 . Updated at 5:44 p.m.
«We are united by history and very intense ties of affection and brotherhood with Latin American countries. In recent decades, we have also been united by growing economic ties and increasingly closer global visions. With those words, in a land of conquerors and in the midst of a diplomatic crisis between Spain and Mexico, the king has inaugurated the meeting of Academies of History in which 14 countries participate.
The act has become first scenario in which both nations have met after Felipe VI was not invited to the inauguration ceremony of the new Mexican president, Claudia Sheinbaum. This caused the Spanish Government not to send any representative to the ceremony and President Sheinbaum justified the exclusion of Felipe VI from her investiture due to the lack of response to a letter, sent in 2019, in which her predecessor in the Mexican Presidency and political mentor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, asked the monarch to apologize for the “abuses” of the Spanish conquest of Mexico 500 years ago.
In this quote he has not done it, but he has has launched a message of unity and has called to discuss possible discrepancies without prejudice between the peoples ofe both sides of the Atlantic.
«We, Ibero-Americans, are a unity in diversity, a culture of cultures. Our relationship is so deep that it even allows us to speak frankly. of our possible discrepancies, inevitable, moreover, in so many centuries of shared history?, but always from respect based on friendship,” said Felipe VI in his speech, before inviting us to look forward. “One has to gain momentum in those that unite us to achieve pragmatic, useful and balanced responses», he added at the inauguration of a meeting in which, precisely, events that occurred centuries ago were discussed.
There is expectation in this meeting because the president of the Academy of History of Mexico, Javier Garciadiego, who arrived early at the Barrantes-Cervantes Palace, which hosted the opening ceremony, participates. There he waited with representatives of Latin American institutions for the arrival of Felipe VI. At 10:40 a.m. the king made an appearance in the Plaza de San Miguel. Just a few seconds later, the Minister of Education, Pilar Alegría, arrived. Since ten in the morning, a hundred residents of Trujillo were already waiting in that square, who have received Felipe VI with cheers of long live the king and long live Spain.
The monarch first greeted the president of the Board, María Guardiola; the delegate of the Government of Extremadura, José Luis Quintana; the director of the Royal Academy of History, María del Carmen Iglesias; the president of the Obra Pía de los Pizarro Foundation, Hernando de Orellana, and the mayor of Trujillo, Inés Rubio.
Strong security measures
Next, he entered the Barrantes Palace amidst strong security measures and there he received the representatives of the history academies participating in this day. Among them, that of Mexico. We exchanged a few words with him in a group at the end of the event and after the family photo of all those attending. It is about an image that has symbolized the first rapprochement between Spain and Mexico after the disagreements of the last few weeks.
Furthermore, during the inauguration there were many words that called for unity. “We must know history with its shadows and its lights, strengthen our individual and collective coexistence,” said the director of the Royal Academy of History, who has also alluded to “difficult political relationships,” although she has clarified that she has never The relationship in the historiographic sectors between Spaniards and Hispanic Americans has been broken. «The fault has names and surnames and is individual. There is no such thing as feeling guilty for things that have happened without one actively participating in them,” Iglesias stated.