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Spain won’t send a delegation to the inauguration of Mexico’s first-ever female president on Oct. 1 due to an escalating diplomatic and royal row over its colonial history in the country.
Mexican President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum did not invite the King of Spain to her presidential inauguration after he failed to apologize for the Spanish conquest at the request of current President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
Spain responded by pulling out of the ceremony altogether late on Tuesday night.
In a letter published on Wednesday and reported by El Pais, Sheinbaum said that “Mexico and Spain share a solid relationship of friendship,” but added that it “would benefit from a renewed perspective.”
The narrative of the Spain’s conquest of what is now Mexico in the 1500s is still debated.
Tension on the subject was renewed in March, when Obrador, a popular left-wing figure who will leave office at the end of September, asked King Felipe VI to recognize the abuses Spain committed during the conquest and to apologize for them.
On Wednesday during a daily television address reported by El Pais, Obrador affirmed his support for Sheinbaum, who will also be Mexico’s first president of Jewish descent, saying of Spain: “They acted with a lot of arrogance, they never responded to a respectful and formal letter.”
Numerous Latin American and African countries will be sending representatives to Sheinbaum’s inauguration, as will a delegation from the United States led by first lady Jill Biden.
Ukrainian and Russian leaders Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Vladimir Putin are also invited, though it’s unlikely the latter will attend given Mexico is a member of the International Criminal Court, which currently has a warrant out for his arrest.
The Mexican ministry of foreign affairs and Spain’s royal household didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
