Mexican president apologizes to indigenous people for Spanish conquest

To commemorate the 500th anniversary of the fall of the Aztec capital to Spain, President Lopez Obrador asked for forgiveness.

The President of Mexico, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador) has asked the indigenous Mexicans of the country to forgive them for what they suffered during the bloody conquest of the Aztec Empire by Spain in 1521. Abuse.

Lopez Obrador spoke on Friday in front of a large replica temple built to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the fall of ancient times. Aztec Hernan Cortes, the capital of the capital, Tenochtitlan, was the leader of the army that invaded the Spanish army and its indigenous allies.

Cortez and his allies defeated Aztec leaders and Mexicans living in Mexico Tenochtitlan, Which later became Mexico City. Then they looted and razed the city, ushering in three centuries of Spanish rule.

Lopez Obrador said: “Today, we remember the fall of the great Tenochtitlan, and we apologize to the victims of the disaster caused by the Spanish military occupation of Central America and the current territory of the Republic of Mexico.”

Lopez Obrador once stated that the Spanish monarchy and the Roman Catholic Church should formally apologize for the atrocities committed during the conquest.

On August 9, 2021, workers built a replica of the mayor of the Aztec Temple in Zocalo, the main square of Mexico City. The surrounding buildings are decorated with the image of the Quetzalcoatl from the pre-Columbian period [File: Eduardo Verdugo/AP Photo]

The left-wing president reiterated his previous criticism on Friday that colonialists tell history at their convenience.

“Conquest and colonization are signs of backwardness, not civilization, and signs of injustice,” he said.

Lopez Obrador (Lopez Obrador), when expounding the roots of inequality and corruption in Mexico, repeatedly accused the abuse of power during the colonial era. The survey shows that many Mexicans believe that they have mixed ancestry, a mixture of European and indigenous ancestry.

Areas with a high concentration of indigenous people tend to be poorer and therefore closer to the election base of Lopez Obrador, who promised to put Mexico’s poor first.

As the anniversary approached, Lopez Obrador came forward Criticism of Spain And other European countries, including Austria, whose former ruling family, the Habsburgs, also became the heads of the Mexican empire imposed by France in the 1860s.

Last year, he pressured a Vienna museum to loan a feather headdress with jewels to Mexico, which is considered one of the most important pre-Hispanic handicrafts.

It is said that the Aztec Emperor Mocte Suma wore this headdress before being overthrown by Cortez.

Although Lopez Obrador’s wife Beatrice Gutierrez visited the Austrian capital, Mexico’s request was rejected.