Neither the increase in price of housing, nor the threat of a record price rise of oil, nor election results of 15-M. What has heated up Spanish politics at the start of the week has been the conquest of America in the 16th century. On Monday, during a visit to an exhibition focused on indigenous Mexico, Felipe VI pronounced a few words unimaginable until not so long ago they have agitated to the Spanish right: he recognized shadows in colonization.
President Claudia Sheinbaum already has picked up the gauntlet.
What has happened? That Felipe VI has just left a key gesture to bring closer positions between Spain and Mexico. On Monday, during a visit to the exhibition ‘Half of the world’inaugurated in December at the National Archaeological Museum, the king recognized that during the colonization of America “there was a lot of abuse” and “ethical controversies.” They are important words both for their literality and (above all) for where, how, when and to whom they were spoken.
What exactly did he say? The (literal) declaration of Felipe VI was the following:
“There are things that when we study them we say ‘well, in our opinion today, with our values, because obviously they cannot make us feel proud’. But we have to know them. And in their proper context. Not with excessive moral presentism, but with an objective and rigorous analysis. And draw lessons, because there have also been moral and ethical struggles and controversies regarding how power is exercised, from day one.”
“The Catholic Monarchs themselves with their guidelines, the Laws of the Indies, the entire legislative process… There is a desire for protection that then reality causes it to not be fulfilled as intended and there is a lot of abuse (…) Also value the fact that from there, from that knowledge, we will appreciate ourselves more.”
Why’s that? When it comes to communicating, the Royal House has its own style. And it is not exactly characterized by improvisation. Felipe VI’s statement sounds spontaneous (and it seems so in form), but everything indicates that it is measured to the millimeter. To begin with, it was not done in any forum. It was made during a visit that did not appear on his public agenda anymore. an exhibition organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Secretary of Culture of Mexico. When speaking, Felipe VI also had the Mexican ambassador, Quirino Ordaz, at his side.
Is there more? Yes. As if all of the above were not enough, there is another important detail: from Felipe VI, exactly the statements that Zarzuela wanted to be heard have been heard. His words were not captured by an out-of-control microphone. On the contrary. They are included in an edited video of just over six minutes broadcast by the House of HM the King through networks to inform about the visit to the archaeological museum. In short: tone, form and spontaneous staging. Intention and background fully controlled and measured to the millimeter.
Click on the image to go to the tweet.
Is this something surprising? Yes. And no. We start with the first thing, why the king’s words are so striking. To understand it you have to go back to 2019when the then Mexican president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, sent a letter to the monarch (also to the pope) with a peculiar request: to ask forgiveness from the natives of Mexico for the abuses of the conquest.
“That a report of grievances be made and forgiveness be asked from the native peoples for the violations of what is now known as human rights,” claimed the leader. “There were massacres. The so-called conquest was done with sword and cross.”
That request was not well received in Spain. In March 2019, the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs published a statement in which he disgraced Obrador for having made public the letter addressed to the Royal Family and rejected “with all firmness” the claims of the Mexican president. “The arrival, five hundred years ago, of the Spanish to current Mexican lands cannot be judged in the light of contemporary considerations,” remarked.
Did the thing stay there? No. That alienated Mexico and Spain. The letter was not answered and the Mexican president interpreted it as a snub that led to a diplomatic crisis. Its clearest manifestation came years later, in October 2024, when López Obrador passed the baton to Claudia Sheinbaum.
In a a gesture Loaded with symbolism, the new leader did not invite Felipe VI to her inauguration ceremony. “Unfortunately, this letter did not receive any direct response, as would have corresponded to the best diplomatic practice,” alleged Sheinbaum remembering the 2019 episode.
Has the king changed his position? If it had stopped there, the words spoken yesterday by Felipe VI would perhaps have caused more surprise, but the truth is that they come preceded by a clear and deliberate effort by Spanish diplomacy to build bridges with the North American Executive.
The turning point was marked last october the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, with statements that sounded like atonement precisely during the presentation of the exhibition ‘Half of the World’, the same one that Felipe VI attended yesterday. “The history shared between Spain and Mexico, like all human history, has chiaroscuro. There has been pain and injustice towards the native peoples. There was injustice, it is fair to recognize it and regret it. We cannot deny or forget that part of our shared history.”
Has it had repercussions? Yes. Inside and outside of Spain. The most important reaction to the words of Felipe VI has been left by Sheinbaum, who appreciates a “approach gesture” by Zarzuela that has been celebrated publicly.
“Unlike several years ago, when López Obrador’s letter was not even recognized, and there was a cooling of relations, now… First the king’s gesture of going to the exhibition and then his statement,” commented the Mexican leader. “One may say, ‘well, it wasn’t everything we would have wanted,’ but the truth is that it is a gesture of closer recognition of the excesses and exterminations that occurred during the arrival of the Spanish.”
And within Spain? The reception has been very different from some Spanish parties, which without directly criticizing the Royal House have shown their discomfort or at least lack of harmony. “To do an examination now in the 21st century of the things that happened in the 15th century is nonsense,” argues the leader of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, proud, he assures, of the “Spanish legacy” in America.
From VOX, Hermann Herstch has been declared “stunned” and has reproached the monarch for his “formal and almost habitual adherence to the theses of those who only seek harm and contempt for the history of Spain and the present of the Spanish people.”
Image | House of HM the King and Alex Azabache (Unsplash)
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