Spain expresses regret over injustice' suffered by Mexico's Indigenous people during conquest

"It's a very human history and, like every human history, it's had its light and its shadows, he said. And there has also been pain pain and injustice towards the Indigenous people to whom this exhibition is dedicated. There was injustice and it's right to recognise that today and to be sorry for that, because it is also part of our shared history, and we can neither deny nor forget it."

"We agreed with the letter that was sent by president Lopez Obrador and we are still waiting for a reply, she said. Sheinbaum welcomed Albares's comments, saying they went some way towards recognising the wrongs of the past. It's a first step and it speaks to the importance of what we've always said: that apologies ennoble governments and peoples, she said. It's not humiliating, it's just the opposite."

Spain formally recognised pain and injustice suffered by Indigenous people of Mexico during the colonial conquest and expressed regret. In March 2019 Mexico's then president, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, wrote to King Felipe VI and Pope Francis urging apologies for massacres and oppression; Spain initially rejected judging actions 500 years ago and urged a shared, non-angry view of common history. Spain's foreign minister Jose Manuel Albares publicly acknowledged light and shadows in the joint history, admitting injustice and apologising. Mexico's president Claudia Sheinbaum renewed calls for an apology and welcomed Spain's comments as a first step, saying apologies ennoble governments and peoples.

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