Juan Carlos G. Partida
Correspondent
La Jornada Newspaper
Wednesday, October 9, 2024, p. 11
Guadalajara, Jal., The kings of Spain will not come for agenda reasons
to the Guadalajara International Book Fair (FIL), which will take place for nine days starting next November 30, confirmed Marisol Schulz, director of the literary meeting, who added that the president of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, was also invited. whose response they are waiting for.
We invited the kings of Spain and we have also invited different government bodies through both the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. We do not have confirmation from Spain that any government representative will come; However, I do have a letter from the Protocol of the Royal House apologizing to the kings for a scheduling problem.
said Schulz during the press conference in which the general program of the FIL was presented this Tuesday.
Spain, as in the year 2000, is the invited country to the fair and will bring what is considered the largest delegation in the history of the FIL from a guest of honor, on an occasion that the Spanish Secretary of State for Culture , Jordi Martí Grau, said that it is an opportunity to help improve diplomatic relations between both countries.
Relations were strained after the Spanish king, Felipe VI, avoided answering a letter from former president Andrés Manuel López Obrador, sent in 2019, in which he asked him to apologize for the crimes and abuses
occurred during the Conquest and colonial era, which was reflected in the fact that the monarch was not invited to the recent inauguration of President Claudia Sheinbaum, which deepened the diplomatic dispute.
Regarding the possibility that, after six years of there being no representatives of the Mexican government at the FIL opening ceremony, a change would now occur, Schulz said that the respective invitations have already been issued, but to date We don’t know, because they normally don’t respond so soon, but the invitation is made and we hope so
.
In turn, Jordi Martí Grau said he hoped that the cultural exchange during the FIL with Spain would contribute to improving diplomatic relations. I am convinced that a meeting where the best of Mexican and Spanish culture will be present is an opportunity in any scenario. Undoubtedly: there will be more talent, more capacity for reflection, to look at the past, the present and even to project to the future
he stated.
He also said that Mexico, which for the first time has a female president, will open a great stage
with Claudia Sheinbaum.
Karla Planter, in charge of FIL Pensamiento, which this year will bring together 260 intellectuals of 12 nationalities to participate in 80 analysis tables, said that the history that unites Spain and Mexico will be analyzed with the clear intention of improving relations between the two nations. .
