LETTER FROM MADRID
“1492. Neither genocide nor slavery. They were heroes and saints. » This text accompanies the image of conqueror Pedro Menéndez d’Ávila, governor of Spanish Florida in the 16th centurymy century, and appears on enormous advertising panels that appeared in the subway and on the streets of Madrid, a few days before October 12, the date of the national holiday.
This surprising communication campaign is signed by the Catholic Association of Propagandists, in particular owner of the private CEU San Pablo University. The attached QR code leads to a video that, in the form of a fake television questionnaire, praises the “ culture “, HE ” of mixed race ” AND ” evangelism » brought by the Spanish to America and “ dismantle ” there “black legend” Spanish.
Every year, the national holiday, also called “ Spanishness », which celebrates the “discovery” of America by Christopher Columbus on October 12, 1492, is accompanied by the same controversies and debates. Some consider that this day of “shame” commemorates a “genocide” and “five centuries of plunder, slavery and colonization”as summarized by the radical left party Podemos. Others believe that it refers to “the greatness of Spain” and its essential role in “the expansion of Western civilization” AND “the history of humanity”, as stated by the far-right party Vox. Between both, the official version – since Spain made it its national holiday in 1987 – wants October 12 to be celebrated “the meeting of two worlds”, to “collective history” and the “ fraternity » among their peoples.
“Inexplicable”
This year, the controversy took on an international dimension. The new president of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, excluded the king of Spain, Felipe VI, from the list of guests at her inauguration ceremony last 1Ahem October, first demanding an apology for the crimes committed during the Conquest. He accepted a request from former Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador. In March 2019 he sent a letter to the king apologizing. “public and official” For “the damage caused” by the Spanish conquerors to the indigenous communities of Mexico.
Felipe VI did not respond and the then Minister of Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell, joked with the possibility that Spain would demand an apology from France for the Napoleonic invasions and that Paris would ask one from Italy for the conquest of Gaul. by Julius Caesar.
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