MEXICO.- The Mexican president, Claudia Sheinbaumconfirmed this Thursday that his government invited the king of Spain, Philip VIto the World football, although he clarified that he did the same with all the countries with which he Mexico It has a relationship.
The Spanish Royal Family announced the invitation on Wednesday, which came after Felipe VI acknowledged that there was “a lot of abuse” during the Spanish conquest of Americaan unprecedented statement on this issue that has generated tensions between both countries.
“Gabriela Cuevas (representative of the Mexican government for the World Cup) sent (the letter) the invitation to all the countries in the world to come to the World Cup and there was the king of Spain,” Sheinbaum said during his usual morning press conference.
“These are all the countries with which Mexico has a relationship,” he added.
Bilateral relations were strained in 2019 when the then Mexican president, Andrés Manuel López Obradorsent a letter to Madrid demanding an apology from the Crown for the abuses committed, according to Mexico, during the Conquest.
Sheinbaum maintained his predecessor’s claim and did not invite the king to his investiture in 2024. In response, Spain did not send representatives to the ceremony.
On Monday, Felipe VI admitted that there were “many abuses” during the Spanish conquest of America, despite the Catholic kings’ “desire for protection” towards the indigenous people, unpublished statements on his part on this matter.
In response, President Sheinbaum on Tuesday welcomed the king’s “gesture of rapprochement.”
History
Mesoamerica, a region that included parts of Mexico and Central America, had an estimated population of between 15 and 30 million people when the conquistador Hernan Cortes He arrived in 1519 with an army of several hundred men, bringing horses, swords, firearms and also diseases such as smallpox.
After a century of battles, massacres and epidemics, only between one and two million native inhabitants remained.
