Normal relationship with Spain, until a “redress ceremony” is held: Bárcena

Fernando Camacho Servin

La Jornada Newspaper
Saturday, September 28, 2024, p. 3

The head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SRE), Alicia Bárcena, conditioned the normalization of bilateral relations with Spain on the Iberian country agreeing to carry out a redress ceremony towards Mexico.

In a press conference, after participating in the 79th period of sessions of the General Assembly of the United Nations (UN), the chancellor stated: We have to get out of this situation, and the way is to agree to carry out this redress meeting.

When elaborating on the subject, Bárcena gave as an example that When the archaeological site of Palenque was discovered, the communities asked for a ceremony of redress, because we are going to enter their territories. So, what Mexico was requesting is that, a kind of meeting to make amends, which we could combine with something positive, like this coexistence that we have had..

He highlighted that he has a excellent relationship with the president of the Spanish government, Pedro Sánchez, and with his counterpart Manuel Albares, and that the solution to the dispute We have it and we must carry it forward.; He recalled that the friction between both countries is not recent.

The origin of the conflict, he pointed out, was in the lack of response from King Felipe VI to a letter sent in 2019 by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, where he suggested that Spain should apologize for the atrocities committed against indigenous peoples during the Conquest.

As reported in this newspaper, Pedro Sánchez’s government considered unacceptable that the monarch has not been invited to the investiture of the president-elect, Claudia Sheinbaum, on October 1, which is why in a statement from his chancellery he announced that he will not participate in said inauguration at no level.

Questioned about this, Sheinbaum explained that the king was not invited because he did not respond directly. as would have corresponded to the best diplomatic practice of bilateral relationsto the aforementioned letter from the President.

In a letter released on Wednesday, the Morenista recalled that both countries They share a solid friendship, with important economic, tourist and cultural ties.and said he was confident that the current situation which today highlights our diversity of opinions, is also a starting point for Mexico and Spain to soon find new ways of understanding based on our sovereignties and mutual respect..