President Claudia Sheinbaum stated in her memoir that the President of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez, insisted that she invite King Felipe VI to his investiture in 2024, but that he stressed his refusal since he “knew well” his “position” on the matter, amid Mexico’s requests for forgiveness from Spain for the abuses committed during the conquest.
“I responded that it was not the right time, that he knew my position well,” Sheinbaum writes in his memoir “Diary of a Historical Transition” (Planeta, 2025) published this weekend.
Precisely this Monday, the president affirmed that the relationship between Mexico and Spain remains active, although she recalled that her Government is still waiting for a response from the Spanish State to the letter sent in 2019 by former president Andrés Manuel López Obrador (2018-2024), in which he requested an apology.
“We have relations with Spain, no relationship has been broken. The Secretary of Culture recently went, the Secretary of Tourism went, that is, there are economic, political, tourist relations, there are relations,” he said during his daily press conference.
In his book, Sheinbaum recounts the weeks leading up to his inauguration, on October 1, 2024, and how on a trip to Nuevo León, on August 17 of last year, he spoke with Sánchez by phone.
More context: Sheinbaum assures that the relationship with Spain is still active, but is still waiting for a response of forgiveness for the atrocities of the conquest
“On the way to the airport, I received a previously scheduled call with the president of Spain (…) During the conversation he insisted that I invite the king to my inauguration,” the president recalls.
It was at that moment that he responded to Sánchez that “it was not the right time” and reminded Sánchez that he “knew” his position well.
“We say goodbye with respect,” adds Sheinbaum in the 220-page book, which focuses on recounting the months of transition after his electoral victory and the succession to López Obrador.
A little more than a month after that conversation, the president published a letter at the end of September 2024 in which she acknowledged that she had had a conversation with Sánchez to return to the issue without reaching an agreement.
As a consequence, the Spanish Government, through a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, considered the exclusion of HM the King “unacceptable” and announced its decision “not to participate in said inauguration at any level.”
Since then, diplomatic relations between Spain and Mexico have been marked by coldness, although both parties have stressed the close economic, social and cultural ties between the two countries.
With information from EFE.
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