Mexico City: A day after meeting with his Spanish counterpart and announcing that ties were being "resumed", Mexico's top diplomat insisted on Friday that ties with Spain were still "on pause"
The intriguing face-off relates to President Andrés Manuel López Obrador's long-standing complaints about Spanish businesses doing business in Mexico and his refusal to take responsibility for wrongdoings committed during Spain's colonial-era conquest of Mexico .
López Obrador, who until recently put relations with Peru "on hold", appears to be in charge of much of Mexico's foreign policy. Regarding Peru, López Obrador claimed that Mexico continues to recognize Castillo as the country's leader, despite lawmakers ousting Pedro Castillo from office last week for attempting to dissolve Congress before the impeachment vote.
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In a meeting with his Spanish counterpart, José Manuel Albarés, on Thursday, Mexican Foreign Relations Secretary Marcelo Ebrard announced, "We are launching a relaunch regarding bilateral relations." The two hugged and discussed new cooperation in the middle of a Spain-Mexico Bilateral Commission meeting.
However, the standoff continues because there is no attitude of respect on his part, López Obrador argued in opposition to Ebrard early Friday.
López Obrador alleged in February that Spanish businesses had unfairly exploited openings in the private sector to sign dubious contracts to build power plants in Mexico.
López Obrador wrote to Spain in 2020 requesting an apology for the brutality of the conquest of Mexico in 1521 and the centuries that followed.
The president expressed his displeasure on Friday: "I sent a respectful letter to the head of state, the King of Spain, and he didn't even have the courtesy to reply to me." He claimed that we needed to show our gratitude to the companies for colonizing them and, later, for their smug behaviour.
Shortly thereafter, Spain responded with a statement from its Foreign Ministry.
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In a statement, the Spanish government strongly rejected the President of Mexico's comments regarding His Majesty the King, Spanish businesses and Spanish political territories. "After a successful bilateral commission that provided such concrete results, these statements are incomprehensible."
The whole situation put Ebrard in a precarious position, hoping to get the Murray party nomination to succeed López Obrador. Despite claiming that López Obrador had given his approval for Thursday's meeting, Ebrador has been unable to publicly disagree with the president.
Mexico 2020 wrote that the Catholic Church, the Spanish monarchy and the Mexican government should publicly apologize for the offensive atrocities that indigenous peoples had to endure.
The letter was written as Mexico celebrated the 500th anniversary of the Conquest, which took place between 1519 and 1521 and resulted in the death of a large portion of the pre-Hispanic population.
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In 2019, López Obrador had already requested a formal apology from Spain for the conquistadors. Spain's then foreign minister, Josep Borrell, announced that his country "will not issue these apologies that have been requested."