The Spanish government has announced that it will refuse to attend the inauguration of Mexico’s new president, Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo, due to “Unacceptable exclusion” of King Felipe VI of the guest protocol. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement to publicly declare that it “rejects the exclusion of HM the King from the investiture of the elected president of Mexico” and took the opportunity to communicate “that it will not send any representative.”
THE inauguration of Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo It is scheduled for next Monday, October 1, after his victory in the presidential elections held in Mexico last June.
It is traditional for King Felipe VI to attend the inaugurations of Ibero-American heads of state, but Foreign Affairs reports that this will not be the case this time due to his “unacceptable exclusion from the invitation.” For this reason, he announced that, given the rejection of the presence of the Spanish head of state, the Spanish government “has decided not to participate in any inauguration at any level.”
The controversy arose in the middle of the United Nations High-Level Week, when the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, were participating in various events and meetings in New York. One of these meetings was the one that Albares held this Tuesday with his counterparts from Brazil, Colombia and Mexico to analyze the situation in Venezuela. A meeting that Albares reported on social networks but in which he did not refer to the question of whether, when he coincided with the Mexican Minister of Foreign Affairs, Alicia Bárcena, they spoke about the controversy over not inviting the king to the inauguration.
Government sources pointed out to EFE that what the Executive has done with its statement is to defend the head of state, in a logical, clear and energetic reaction. They remember that Felipe VI is the one who attends the inaugurations of Ibero-American presidents and who is recognized and loved in that community. However, they insist that the government has done what it had to do in the face of a decision that is not understood, and if Mexico does not invite the king, in response, it has agreed that no one will represent Spain.
Regarding the reasons why Mexico has adopted this decision, the sources cited insist that this question should be posed to the government of that country, with which they emphasize that they nevertheless maintain close relations. The woman who will be the new president of Mexico as of October 1 said at the end of July that she agreed that Spain must be asked for forgiveness for the “Spanish conquest” which left “numerous massacres and violence”even though he insisted on maintaining bilateral relations.
Since 2019, outgoing President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has insisted that Spain apologize to Mexico for the abuses committed during the conquest, a request he even made in a letter to Felipe VI.
