López Obrador assures that he seeks to "completely reestablish relations" with Spain

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, with Quirino Ordaz Coppel, during a visit to Sinaloa.Juan Carlos Cruz / CUARTOSCURO

Andrés Manuel López Obrador seeks to "completely reestablish relations" with Spain after the tensions that have marked his mandate for demanding an apology for the conquest. The Mexican president proposed on Saturday a new ambassador in Madrid, the outgoing governor of Sinaloa, Quirino Ordaz Coppel, whom he has already instructed to reduce those tensions. Shortly after, in a statement to the media during his tour of that state, he again accused the Spanish authorities of "arrogance", although he ended up relativizing the controversies by speaking of "misunderstandings."

In 2019, a few months after taking office, the president sent a letter to Felipe VI and Pope Francis to request forgiveness for the excesses of the conquest.

Since then, he has referred to that request on multiple occasions, regretting not having obtained a response while the Pedro Sánchez Government has avoided an escalation by always maintaining a discreet attitude in this regard.

This year, López Obrador's speech was framed in the celebration of the 700 years of the founding of Tenochtitlan, the five centuries of the invasion and the 200 years of the independence of Mexico, whose acts will end on September 27 and to which his The government invited the then Spanish Foreign Relations, Arancha González Laya, months ago.

More information

• López Obrador proposes the PRI governor of Sinaloa as Mexico's ambassador to Spain

• Mexico avoids stirring up tensions with Spain and vindicates indigenous resistance against Cortés

“We asked them in a very respectful way to offer their apologies, especially the Monarchy, for what was carried out in an abusive way in our country with the native communities, the repression that took place, the mass murders, the extermination.

Well, they did not understand it that way, they felt offended, I think they acted with pride, ”he said in conversation with journalists from Mazatlán, reports Efe.

However, López Obrador's will is now to deepen the diplomatic springs. Ordaz Coppel is a veteran leader of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), opposed to Morena, and is about to finish the term that began in 2017 in Sinaloa. According to the president, the politician will contribute "to the restoration of completely and in very good terms relations with Spain, which are of all kinds, mainly friendship with the Spanish people." The president has affirmed that diplomatic relations are good, although he has admitted that at times there have been tensions: "Sometimes they are not as we would like, with misunderstandings, but I aspire to fully reestablish them."

The president, who this Sunday has invited another political adversary, the PAN governor of Nayarit, to join his administration, has declared on several occasions that his purpose is that Mexico is not seen as "a land of conquest." On Saturday he also stressed that he seeks to give new impetus to the relationship "based on mutual respect."

Ordaz Coppel's proposal, as reported by the Foreign Ministry, "will be presented to the Government of Spain to request approval in accordance with international diplomatic norms and, subsequently, will be sent to the Senate for analysis and ruling in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution." Ordaz Coppel began his career in the eighties, he had a position in the Ministry of Energy during the Government of Carlos Salinas de Gortari and was deputy director of tourism promotion under the mandate of Ernesto Zedillo. Later he went on to dedicate himself to territorial politics, with a hiatus as a deputy in the coalition between the PRI and the Green Party in Congress. López Obrador described him as a "professional" and a "working man."

The current Mexican ambassador to Spain, María Carmen Oñate, had assumed that responsibility just over a year ago.

The Ministry of Foreign Relations thanked him "for the work and performance at the head of the representation" and explained that the diplomat "had communicated for months his decision to retire, for which this Foreign Ministry expresses its appreciation for his outstanding career of 42 years".

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