Mexico Spain Diplomatic Duel!
United Nations, Sep 27 (EFE).-
Mexican Foreign Minister Alicia Bárcena said Friday that the normalization of diplomatic relations with Spain, following the impasse caused by Mexico’s refusal to invite King Felipe VI of Spain to the inauguration of President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum, is contingent on the performance of a “reparations ceremony” for the conquest of the Americas more than 500 years ago.
“In Mexico, when an archaeological site was discovered, such as Petén or Palenque, the communities asked for a reparation ceremony because we were entering their territory, their land and their culture. This is what Mexico has been asking for, a kind of reparation ceremony (for what happened) 500 years ago,” Bárcena said in a press conference at the United Nations.
Relations between the two countries have been strained over the past week after Sheinbaum decided not to invite Spain’s King Felipe VI to her inauguration ceremony on Oct. 2, arguing that he never responded to a 2019 letter from current President Andrés Manuel López Obrador asking Spain to apologize for its conquest of the Americas.
Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares also spoke from New York on Friday, and said that Madrid wants to maintain “the best relations” with Mexico, but stressed that the government will always defend Spanish institutions, “starting with the highest, the head of state.”
The minister declined to answer directly when asked about Bárcena’s proposal for a “reparations ceremony.”
Instead, Albares stated that he had personally conveyed Spain’s complaint about the King’s exclusion to the Mexican Foreign Minister, reiterating a formal complaint that his ministry conveyed on Tuesday when the Foreign Ministry summoned the Mexican ambassador in Madrid and the Spanish ambassador to Mexico personally visited the Mexican Foreign Ministry.
Spain, said the head of its diplomacy, wants to maintain “the best relations with a fellow nation like Mexico,” but “will not allow” a delegation of any level other than that of the head of state to represent it at the inauguration, as Spain has historically done in Latin America.
Spain’s government will not be represented at Sheinbaum’s inauguration, although Sumar, a left-wing party allied with the ruling Socialists, has said it will attend the event, much to the displeasure of Pedro Sánchez’ government.
López Obrador accused Sánchez of “disrespecting” Sheinbaum
The Mexican president on Friday accused Spain’s prime minister of “disrespecting” the president-elect for suggesting it was his idea not to invite the king to the inauguration ceremony.
“They are insinuating that it was a decision I made as if the president (elect) of Mexico could be manipulated, which is an additional lack of respect. They are completely wrong, it was the president-elect’s decision,” López Obrador said.
He was criticizing the statements made by Sánchez on Wednesday when he attributed the exclusion of the king from the inauguration to a “political interest.”
López Obrador maintained that the Spanish government was invited to Sheinbaum’s ceremony and that it was only King Felipe VI who was not included. EFE
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