The People’s Party launched a series of parliamentary questions to the government after Alvarez made a controversial apology to Mexico for the “abuse” of conquest, a speech that was quickly joined by Culture Minister Ernesto Hurtazun. Regarding PP, … The executive branch has chosen to assume a historical narrative of black legend without public debate or academic support. “Are you going to apologize to the rest of the Ibero-American countries in Africa and the Pacific that were part of Spain in both hemispheres?” PP asks. “What is the reason for the minister’s renewed and repeated display of ignorance?”
This popular offensive aims to force the government to reflect on the change in its position that has begun to take shape with the opening of the exhibition “Half of the World.” An indigenous Mexican woman. At the presentation of the exhibition, which was organized at the highest level between Spain and Mexico in just eight months and held at four venues in Madrid, the foreign minister said that “there has been suffering and injustice towards indigenous peoples” and that “it is natural to recognize and regret it.” Álvarez thus gave in to the demands made by the Mexican president a few days earlier. claudia sheinbaumContinuing the footsteps of his predecessor, lopez obradorargued that Spain should apologize for its actions during the conquest.
The Foreign Minister’s position revealed the clear support of Ernest Urtasun in parliament on Wednesday. In response to a question from PP deputy Cayetana Álvarez de Toledo, the head of culture asserted that Spain must relate to Latin America “on an equal footing” and “accept the abuses and injustices that may be committed.” The Thyssen and Archaeological Museums, which depend on culture, the Instituto Cervantes, which is responsible for diplomacy, and the Casa de México, organized the exhibition, and Sheinbaum wanted to emphasize that “conquest is not a meeting of equals” but “a brutal process of violence, imposition, and deprivation.”
In this way, the government is trying to end diplomatic conflicts that have been going on since the López Obrador era. However, the PP understands that this position goes beyond diplomacy and enters in earnest into debates over historical narratives. “Is the official position of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the discovery of the Americas an agreed position with the Ministry of Culture?” Has there ever been a working meeting between the two ministries? If so, what was the conclusion reached? Has the Ministry of Foreign Affairs consulted the Royal Academy of History, the Royal Spanish Academy, or other bodies regarding its official position?
The PP claims that the government reviewed Spain’s history without scientific support and in doing so succumbed to “anachronistic and partial revisionism”. This pardon is a transfer to Sheinbaum that “reinstates the so-called black legend discourse and distorts the common historical and cultural heritage that unites the two countries.” «What recognition and correction efforts are the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Instituto Cervantes promoting and planning in the future? Does the Ministry of Automobile Culture propose any work on the discovery of America through its Strategic Plan for External Cultural Activities for the period 2025-2028? And concerns: will this development have an impact on other unresolved historical disputes, such as Colombia’s claims to the Treasure of Quimbaya?
Popular lawmakers are also taking it upon themselves to dismantle perceived falsehoods about Spanish cultural heritage in the United States. “Was the Spanish language transplanted to the Americas one of the symptoms of the suffering and injustice done to the pre-Columbian peoples?” they ask. “Which of the universities opened in the Viceroyalty of New Spain performed a task for which an apology is required?” “Does the Minister think that the introduction of printing presses into the Viceroyalty of New Spain was one of the causes that led to that shameful and humiliating declaration?”
There’s more. “Does the Minister think that the concept of human dignity for pre-Hispanic peoples has receded? Should the disappearance of mass human sacrifice, infanticide, femicide, and brutal subjugation of ethnic groups be deplored? The disappearance of pre-Hispanic religious cults that included human sacrifice? Should I regret what I did? Does discovering that I wrote a letter to those people count among the things I should apologize for? Which indigenous group does Mrs. Sheinbaum feel the need to address? “What does the Minister attribute the survival of the Aztec people and their many cultural forms to, even though Mrs. Sheinbaum always expresses her thoughts in Spanish?”
And finally, the rhetorical question: “Do you believe that the Minister is carrying out his role with dignity?”
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