Spain Acknowledges Pain Inflicted on Mexican Indigenous Peoples

Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares publicly acknowledged the "injustice and pain" inflicted on Mexico’s Indigenous peoples at the Madrid opening of "Half the World: Women in Indigenous Mexico," a four-venue exhibition of more than 400 works celebrating Indigenous women and culture. Albares said it was right to "acknowledge and deplore" the suffering as part of a shared history and described the gesture as a step along a "path of justice and reconciliation" between the two countries. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, who requested the exhibition, welcomed Albares' statement as a first step toward regret and reconciliation. Albares stopped short of the formal apology sought in 2019 by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, and his remarks have prompted domestic pushback from opposition leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo. Commentators called Albares' remarks one of the clearest acknowledgments by a senior Spanish official of colonial-era suffering, marking a notable diplomatic thaw even as debate continues over apology and reparations.