Mexico excludes Spanish king from president's swearing-in
The Peninsula
Madrid: Mexican president elect Claudia Sheinbaum angered Spain on Wednesday by barring its King Felipe VI from her swearing in ceremony, accusing him...
Madrid: Mexican president-elect Claudia Sheinbaum angered Spain on Wednesday by barring its King Felipe VI from her swearing-in ceremony, accusing him of failing to acknowledge harm caused by his country's conquest of Mexico five centuries ago.
The decision prompted Spain to boycott the event altogether, with its Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez calling the Mexican decision "inexplicable" and "totally unacceptable". Mexico's outgoing President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador in 2019 sent a letter to the king asking that he "publicly and officially" acknowledge the "damage" caused by the 1519-1521 conquest, which resulted in the death of a large part of the country's pre-Hispanic population.
"Unfortunately, this letter was never replied to directly, as should have been the best practice in bilateral relations," Sheinbaum said in a statement. Mexico had in July invited just Sanchez to the swearing-in ceremony on October 1, the statement added.
The Spanish foreign ministry said in a statement that the government "has decided not to participate in the inauguration at any level".
"Spain and Mexico are brotherly peoples. We cannot therefore accept being excluded like this," Sanchez said later in a news conference on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.
