Diplomatic relations between the two countries have deteriorated since March 2019, when Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador sent a letter to the Spanish monarch demanding an apology.
A diplomatic disagreement took place Mexico And Spain . On this occasion, it is an unprecedented event that once again involves the King Philip VI .
The Spanish government has announced that it will not participate in any way in the inauguration of Mexico’s president-elect, Claudia Sheinbaum. The decision was announced in a statement after it was announced that King Felipe VI was not invited to the ceremony.
Why King Felipe VI attends the inauguration of presidents
According to the Constitution of the European country, the king is the “Head of State” and it is he who has “the highest representation of the Spanish State in international relations” . Being the most important personality in Spain, he witnesses the changes of power.
Since he was proclaimed monarch in 2014, Felipe VI attended 17 inauguration ceremonies of heads of state from other countries EFE points out. When he was a prince, he also represented Spain in multiple ceremonies.
The times when the monarch has not attended the inaugurations of Latin American presidents have been rare, according to the Spanish newspaper. The country . In November last year, for example, he did not attend the inauguration of Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa.
What is known about the diplomatic conflict between Mexico and Spain?
Recently, Mexican authorities announced the list of people invited to the swearing-in of the country’s first president, which will take place on next October 1st. In the last presidential elections, held in June, Scheinbaum managed to win with 60% of the total vote, which is equivalent to being elected by nearly 36 million people.
The selection of guests for the upcoming inauguration included several heads of state, including Chilean President Gabriel Boric, Brazilian Lula da Silva, Colombian Gustavo Petro and Cuban Miguel Díaz-Canel. However, the Spanish monarch was not on this list.
On Tuesday night this week, the Spanish government announced in no uncertain terms that, given the exclusion of Felipe VI from the invitation, They would not send any representative of the Executive to participate in the ceremony. calling the attitude adopted by the Mexican authorities “unacceptable.”
“The Spanish government considers unacceptable the exclusion of His Majesty the King from the invitation to the inauguration” They said in a statement released by the European country’s foreign ministry.
On the other hand, the Spanish Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles, regretted that the Iberian country was not present at the event, especially because she considers that Mexico “is a brother people.” Then, she stressed that “the head of state always goes to all the inaugurations, so we cannot accept that in this case he is excluded. “If he is excluded, Spain will not be represented.”
Before the list was revealed, the monarch was not the only one attending the ceremony. They were also expected to attend Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares and Second Vice President of the Government, Yolanda Díaz .
In recent decades, diplomatic relations between Mexico and Spain have been characterized by cordiality. However, tensions between the two nations began to escalate in 2019, shortly after López Obrador became president.
What is the origin of the conflict between Mexico and Spain?
On December 1, 2018, Felipe VI attended the inauguration of López Obrador. On that occasion, the Spanish president, Pedro Sánchez, was also present.
But in March 2019, just three months after taking office, the first conflict broke out.
The reason? The Mexican president sent a letter to the Spanish monarch asking him to apologize for the events that occurred during the conquest of the Latin American country. This, since 2019 marked the 500th anniversary of the arrival of Hernán Cortés in Mexican territory.
“During the Colony, individual and collective rights were violated and, from a collective point of view, they must be considered as attacks on the principles that govern both nations (…) Mexico wants the Spanish State to recognize its historical responsibility for these crimes and offer an apology or reparations.
A few days later, AMLO raised the issue again in a video. “It was an invasion. There were murders, impositions. The so-called conquest was done with the sword and the cross. Churches were built on top of temples. the authority would say.
The Spanish government decided to reject “firmly” the Mexican president’s words and regretted that the text had been revealed. “The arrival, 500 years ago, of the Spanish on current Mexican lands cannot be judged in the light of contemporary considerations,” they said.
Despite the disagreement, the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs assured that it was willing to “work with the government of Mexico and continue building the appropriate framework to intensify existing relations of friendship and cooperation.”
But this was not enough for the Mexican head of state. In the following years, he continued to demand that the Spanish authorities apologize for the events that occurred during the Conquest, claiming that this could improve bilateral relations between the countries. “They didn’t understand it, it was an act to close the wounds, to reconcile and to start a new stage” he said at a press conference in May this year.
Sheinbaum, Mexico’s president-elect, said in mid-year that she agreed that the Iberian country should apologize, but that at the same time, it was necessary “maintain relationships” .
Meanwhile, after the Spanish government’s statement was revealed, Sheinbaum responded that Pedro Sánchez had been invited to participate in the ceremony in July. However, Felipe VI was not on the list for not responding “directly” to López Obrador’s controversial letter, leaked to the press.
“So far, this situation has not been clarified or responded to directly by the Mexican government,” he said.
Source: Latercera
I’m Rose Brown , a journalist and writer with over 10 years of experience in the news industry. I specialize in covering tennis-related news for Athletistic, a leading sports media website. My writing is highly regarded for its quick turnaround and accuracy, as well as my ability to tell compelling stories about the sport.
