Madrid (TDI): Spain’s King Felipe VI on Monday made a rare public acknowledgment of abuses committed during the country’s colonial past, marking one of the few times a Spanish monarch has addressed historical wrongdoing, though no formal apology has been issued.
At its height between the 16th and 18th centuries, Spain ruled one of the largest empires in world history, spanning five continents and including much of Central and Latin America. During this period, colonial authorities engaged in forced labour, land expropriation, and acts of violence against Indigenous peoples.
“Spanish colonial laws were intended to protect, but in reality, things did not work out as planned and there was a lot of abuse,” Felipe said during a visit to the Museum of Archaeology in Madrid.
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He added, “When we study certain things under modern-day criteria, with our values, obviously, we cannot feel proud. But we must learn from this, within its historical context, without excessive moralizing. Lessons must be drawn through objective and rigorous analysis.”
The king toured an exhibition on Indigenous women in Mexico, accompanied by the Mexican ambassador to Spain, Quirino Ordaz.
Relations between Spain and Mexico have occasionally been strained over the legacy of Spanish colonial rule. In 2019, Mexico’s then-President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador requested apologies from the Spanish government and the late Pope Francis for the mistreatment of Indigenous Mexicans during the conquest, often carried out in the name of spreading Catholicism and “civilization.”
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Five years later, Lopez Obrador’s successor, Claudia Sheinbaum, declined to invite the Spanish monarch to her inauguration after Felipe VI refused to issue an apology. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez described the snub as “unacceptable.”
