“Great men and women offer forgiveness”: Sheinbaum

Vícam Pueblo, Guaymas, Son. In the midst of the controversy caused because the future president Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo decided not to invite King Felipe VI of Spain to her inauguration, this Friday, from the historic land of the Yaqui nation, the next president emphasized: “the great men and women offer forgiveness.”

Together with President Andrés Manuel López Obrador – who has supported the decision of his successor – the still president-elect highlighted that unlike the Spanish monarchy, the Mexican president apologized and asked for forgiveness from the native peoples of Mexico for the wrongs committed by different governments after Independence, among them the Yaqui peoples.

Sheinbaum Pardo took advantage of his presence in this town in the middle of the Sonoran desert—where, together with the president, they delivered progress on the Justice Plan for the Yaqui People—to send a clear message to the so-called Iberian Peninsula, where the Spanish monarchy refused to attend at the time. López Obrador’s request to apologize to the native peoples for the atrocities committed during the Conquest and the Colony:

“What that forgiveness meant was recognizing the atrocities against the Yaqui people, not of the current government, but of past governments that wanted to eradicate the Yaqui people and other indigenous peoples; and that not only could they not withstand the resistance, but because they continued to fight.

“That forgiveness, it is important that they listen to us anywhere in the world, forgiveness magnifies peoples, nations, people; means to recognize and recognize means never again, means not to forget. And we do not forget what happened to their ancestors, to the Yaqui people, nor forget the plan of justice, which means compensating for that damage, and recovering and giving what they deserve,” he stressed.

In his turn, minutes later, the federal president himself once again endorsed the position of the next head of the Executive regarding this controversy, and revealed that he even told her that “it was not necessary” not to send the invitation, but Sheinbaum insisted and agreed. remained in his position.

“Recently, the president-elect made the decision not to invite the King of Spain to the inauguration.” The comment caused a stir among the hundreds of people from the Yaqui towns who gathered in the community of Vícam Pueblo, who expressed themselves with loud applause and a shout of: “Bravo!”

López Obrador continued: “Today I was reminding myself that when she asked me about it, I told her that I didn’t see it as necessary, but contrary to popular belief, that’s why our adversaries are wrong, she is a woman with convictions, and she argued that The European invaders, the Spanish, had been asked at the time to offer an apology, a forgiveness, for the atrocities committed during the Conquest and in the period of three centuries of colonial domination.

He recalled that he sent a communication to King Felipe VI so that, within the framework of the 200th anniversary of the achievement of Mexico’s Independence (in September 2021), both governments could offer apologies to the indigenous peoples.

“It was written to the king that we could, in a new stage, begin a different relationship, if the government of Spain, the government of Mexico, apologized to the native peoples for the oppression, for the repression, for the abuses.”

The president indicated that after the Independence movement, abuses against indigenous and Afro-Mexican peoples and communities continued, particularly against the Yaquis—15,000 were murdered during the Porfiriato—and the Mayans.

“That is why it is very significant that we are here, and that a first stage in the transformation is being concluded, with the fulfillment of the Yaqui Justice Plan; because the first time we came, we offered apologies and forgiveness, but at the same time this plan of justice for the Yaqui peoples began, and progress has been made,” the president stressed.

The Justice Plan includes two water works: the Yaqui aqueduct, which will be operating next week; and irrigation district 018, which is expected to come into operation in December of this year.

In addition to the restitution of more than 300 thousand hectares of land taken from this ethnic group throughout history, health, housing, education and restoration of social well-being actions.