Mexico and Spain: How Claudia Sheinbaum justifies her decision not to invite King Felipe VI to her inauguration (and what does the history between the two countries have to do with it)

Caption: Claudia Sheinbaum will take over the government of Mexico on October 1.Article information

• Author, Editor
• Title by the author, BBC News World

• September 25, 2024

Mexican President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum responded on Wednesday to the Spanish Foreign Ministry, which on Tuesday regretted that King Felipe VI had not been invited to the inauguration of the new Mexican president, as is customary at the inaugurations of leaders around the world as he is the head of state.

Sheinbaum said in a statement that Spain was invited to the ceremony on October 1 through a diplomatic note, but that the letter was addressed “only” to the president of the Spanish government, Pedro Sánchez Castejón.

On Tuesday, the Spanish Foreign Ministry said in a statement that it was “unacceptable” that King Felipe VI was excluded from the invitation.

“For this reason, the Spanish government has decided not to participate in the inauguration at any level,” he explained. President Sánchez added that it is “inexplicable.”

“The Spanish government considers Mexico to be a sister country. Spain and Mexico are brothers. And therefore we find it absolutely unacceptable that our head of state should be excluded, one who has participated in all the inaugurations,” Sánchez said on Wednesday.

The reason for inviting only President Sánchez, Sheinbaum explained, dates back to 2019.

In March of that year, the current Mexican president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, sent a personal letter to the King of Spain to ask that, on the occasion of the celebration of 200 years of Mexican Independence, the kingdom of Spain express an apology for the “injuries caused” during the conquest of Mexico.

“Unfortunately, this letter did not merit any direct response, as would have been the best diplomatic practice in bilateral relations,” Sheinbaum said in her statement on Wednesday.

“Instead, part of the letter was leaked to the media and the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs subsequently issued a press release. To date, this circumstance has not been clarified, nor has the Mexican government been directly responded to.”

Caption: As head of state, King Felipe VI usually represents Spain at the investitures of leaders of other countries.

The president-elect said that in her government policy “the recognition of indigenous peoples is fundamental” and that she hopes that her arrival to the presidency of Mexico will open a new “understanding” with Spain.

President López Obrador said on Wednesday that he supports Sheinbaum’s decision not to invite the Spanish king.

“These differences with the Spanish government are not with the Spanish people. We are talking about differences with the Spanish monarchy, which was respectfully asked to apologize to the indigenous peoples of Mexico for the atrocities committed during the European invasion of our country. And there was no response,” the president told reporters.

The origin of the conflict

Three months after taking office in Mexico, with a policy that emphasizes nationalism, López Obrador sent letters to the King of Spain and Pope Francis to request that they apologize for the offenses against indigenous peoples during the conquest of Mexico.

He said he would also apologize for the “repression of indigenous peoples” in 2021, when 200 years had passed since Mexico’s independence.

The letter to King Felipe VI, dated March 1, 2019, was released a few days later by Spanish media, which upset President López Obrador, who then decided to read it during a morning press conference.

In it, he points out that the arrival of the conquistador Hernán Cortés to the current territory of the country, in 1519, was “without a doubt a founding event of the current Mexican nation, yes, but tremendously violent, painful and transgressive.”

He points out that there were “innumerable crimes and abuses”, looting, religious and cultural imposition, in addition to the fact that “individual and collective rights were violated” with the consent of the Spanish Crown of the time.

Image source: Government of Mexico

Caption: López Obrador read the letter at a morning press conference.

“Currently, the State that I preside over does not ask for monetary compensation for the grievances caused by Spain, nor does it intend to proceed legally in response to them; instead, Mexico wants the Spanish State to admit its historical responsibility for these offenses and offer the appropriate apologies or political compensation,” López Obrador proposed as a path to “historical reconciliation.”

In response to López Obrador’s remarks, the Spanish government said it regretted that the Mexican president had made public the letter, “the content of which we firmly reject.”

“The arrival of the Spanish on present-day Mexican soil 500 years ago cannot be judged in the light of contemporary considerations. Our sister nations have always been able to interpret our shared past without anger and with a constructive perspective, as free peoples with a common heritage and extraordinary potential,” the Spanish Foreign Ministry said at the time.

Following this episode and other economic disagreements with Spanish companies doing business in Mexico, particularly in the energy sector, López Obrador said in February 2022 that he would take a “pause” in political relations with the Spanish government.

On Wednesday, López Obrador expressed that his disagreement with the king and the Spanish government goes back to what happened in 2019.

“Not only was there no response, but they leaked the letter and unleashed an entire campaign against us, against the Mexican government. They acted very arrogantly. They never responded to a respectful and formal letter,” said the president.

Caption: López Obrador said he supports Sheinbaum’s decisions.

“Renewed perspective”

In the elections last June, Sheinbaum won the presidential election for the ruling coalition with nearly 60%, which was interpreted as an endorsement of López Obrador’s policies.

Until the disagreement over the non-invitation of King Felipe VI to the ceremony on October 1, the president-elect had not spoken about her foreign policy regarding the relationship with Spain and whether she would maintain the “pause” that López Obrador has maintained since 2022.

In her statement on Wednesday, the president-elect opened the door to a new “understanding” by highlighting that “Mexico and Spain share a solid relationship of friendship, with important economic, tourist and cultural ties.”

“At crucial moments of the civil war in the Iberian country, Mexico was a supportive ally and a generous destination for many Spanish Republicans. Precisely for all this, our relationship would benefit from a renewed historical perspective, in line with the development of our peoples and in which full recognition of our identities is the axis of a respectful, solid and fruitful relationship.”

However, he also stressed that for his government it will be essential to “recognize indigenous peoples” and that he hopes “that Mexico and Spain will soon find new avenues of understanding based on our sovereignty and mutual respect, for the benefit of our nations and our peoples.”

Speaking briefly to reporters on Wednesday, he denied that his government was going to cut ties with Spain.

“We need respect, that’s all.”

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