The ‘important step’ that seals the thaw between Spain and Mexico

Next Thursday’s meeting at the National Palace in Mexico City will put the final seal of approval on the normalization of diplomatic relations between Mexico and Spain. It will be a brief encounter, but one steeped in all the ritual codes of a state visit. In March, Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum invited King Felipe VI to attend Spain’s national team’s first World Cup match on Mexican soil, in the city of Guadalajara. In that context, a second invitation arrived this week, this time for a bilateral meeting.

It has been a sequence of diplomatic steps, heavily focused on symbolic gestures within the cultural sphere, that seeks to mend the rupture begun in 2019 with the controversial letter from former Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador asking the Spanish king for a gesture of apology for the excesses of colonial times, and the Spanish government’s rejection of that letter. The World Cup, which Mexico is co-hosting, will be the final stage for a reconciliation that has been brewing almost since Sheinbaum’s election victory two years ago.

The president described the monarch’s acceptance of the latest invitation as “an important step,” maintaining the tone typical of a diplomatic rapprochement. The Royal Household, for its part, framed the trip as “part of the intensification of bilateral relations.” One of the milestones that accelerated the thaw was King Felipe IV’s gesture in March acknowledging the “abuses” of the Conquest during an exhibition on pre-Hispanic art organized by a binational commission at three Madrid museum venues. Sheinbaum welcomed the gesture and within days sent a letter formally inviting the king to the World Cup.

Once the knot had been loosened, the Mexican president kept sending signals. Barely a month later, she accepted Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez’s invitation to attend a summit in defense of democracy held in Barcelona. It was the first trip by a Mexican president to Spain since 2018 and, moreover, the first trip by a representative of Mexico’s governing Morena party to Europe, at an event convened in response to the turbulent international scene marked by Donald Trump’s aggressive foreign policy.

The improved relationship has also opened up space for political alliances in the delicate international arena, where Mexico remains one of Trump’s favorite targets. Sheinbaum’s trip aligned Mexico with a bloc of progressive countries while also sending a message of firmness to Trump. The alliance appears likely to continue consolidating. In November, Madrid will host another summit through which Spain seeks to reaffirm the role of the Ibero-American community in the face of U.S. pressure.

Preparing the ground for that upcoming meeting was one of the aims of the Spanish foreign minister José Manuel Albares’ recent tour of the Americas. After starting in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, the minister concluded his trip in Mexico with an agenda focused on cultural diplomacy. Albares himself had already visited Mexico in March 2022 to try to unblock the still-tense relationship, but at that time López Obrador insisted on “pausing” relations with Spain rather than accelerating them, as the minister had requested.

Sheinbaum inherited the conflict from her predecessor. Two years ago she did not invite the king to her inauguration, and no Spanish government delegation attended either. But something changed with the new president. In a recent interview with this newspaper, Culture Secretary Claudia Curiel said that contacts with her Spanish counterpart began from day one to explore a major exhibition on Indigenous art in Spain. That is how The Middle of the World: Women in Indigenous Mexico was born, co-organized by a binational commission and shown across three Madrid museum venues.

Cultural diplomacy, to which the World Cup also contributes, has been the facilitator of the thaw and will remain present at next week’s meeting, which will also be attended by two Spanish ministers. President Sheinbaum has announced that, pending finalization of the agenda, they will discuss Indigenous peoples and their importance prior to the arrival of the Spaniards during the Conquest.

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