Sheinbaum urges Spain to ask for forgiveness because “it is not shameful, it magnifies and brings the people closer together”

Mentions the forgiveness requested by Germany for the Holocaust or the cases of colonial violence in France, Japan, Italy or Portugal

Oct. 12 () –

The president of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, has once again urged Spain to ask for forgiveness for the colonial past in America coinciding with Columbus Day, which is celebrated this October 12, and has stressed that losing forgiveness “is not shameful, it magnifies and brings people closer.”

“October 12 is not the day of race or Hispanicity (…). Offering apologies for the crimes committed is not shameful; on the contrary, it magnifies and brings people together,” Sheinbaum stressed in his publication in

Sheinbaum has highlighted that “Christopher Columbus discovered America for Europeans, but on our continent and particularly in what we call Mexico today, there were already great civilizations and cultures of which we feel proud and proud.” “The arrival of the Spanish more than five centuries ago represented the subjugation and even elimination of the native peoples,” he stressed.

The video that accompanies Sheimbaum’s message points out that “offering apologies for crimes against humanity is a historical responsibility, a way of seeking reconciliation and overcoming past grievances.” “With this, the right to truth and dignity that peoples and social groups have are recognized,” the video highlights.

Specifically, it mentions Japan’s public apologies “for abuses committed in Korea and China”, the forgiveness that the President of Germany asked for in 2000 before the Israeli Parliament “for Nazi crimes in the Jewish Holocaust” or Italy’s apologies to Libya 2008.

It also lists that in 2010 the United States “apologized for deliberately infecting hundreds of Guatemalans with venereal diseases” or that in 2013 the Netherlands “apologized for summary executions in Indonesia in the 1940s.”

“In 2018, France admitted responsibility for crimes during the Algerian War of Independence and, three years later, in Rwanda. In 2020, King Philippe of Belgium acknowledged his deep regret for the violence and cruelty carried out in the Congo. That same “This year, King Charles III of the United Kingdom apologized for the murder of 11,000 people during the Mau Mau rebellion in Kenya and this year, Portugal accepted its responsibility for slavery during colonial times,” he continues.

The video also mentions that “the Vatican has repudiated its colonial step and the abuse of girls and boys in Catholic schools in Canada, Argentina, Australia, the United States, Chile, Norway, and New Zealand.”

He highlights that Mexico has also apologized to the Mayan people, the Yaki people and the Chinese community “for acts of violence and discrimination” and recalls the apology for the Tlatelolco plaza massacre in 1968. “These examples confirm that offering apologies for grievances of the past allows historical wounds to be resolved and liberates both those who offer forgiveness and those who grant it,” the recording argues.