- Title: Mexican president asks indigenous for forgiveness over Spanish conquest
- Date: 13th August 2021
- Summary: MEXICO CITY, MEXICO (AUGUST 13, 2021) (REUTERS) MEXICO'S PRESIDENT ANDRES MANUEL LOPEZ OBRADOR ARRIVING AT EVENT TO MARK 500TH-ANNIVERSARY SINCE FALL OF AZTEC CAPITAL GENERAL OF EVENT (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) MEXICO'S PRESIDENT, ANDRES MANUEL LOPEZ OBRADOR, SAYING: "Today, August 13, a date of a funeral. As the master Carlos Pellicer (Mexican writer) would say, we remember the fall of the great Tenochtitlan and we apologize to the victims of the catastrophe caused by the Spanish military occupation of Mesoamerica, and the territory of the current Mexican Republic." PEOPLE APPLAUDING LOPEZ OBRADOR WALKING TOWARDS STAGE AND PEOPLE APPLAUDING VARIOUS OF TEMPLO MAYOR PYRAMID REPRODUCTION
- Embargoed: 27th August 2021 19:40
- Keywords: Aztec Empire Mexico City President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador Tenochtitlan anniversary
- Location: MEXICO CITY, MEXICO
- City: MEXICO CITY, MEXICO
- Country: Mexico
- Topics: Arts/Culture/Entertainment,South America / Central America
- Reuters ID: LVA001EQ43CXZ
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Friday (August 13) asked the country's indigenous Mexica peoples for forgiveness for the abuses inflicted on them during the bloody 1521 Spanish conquest of the Aztec empire.
Lopez Obrador spoke in front of a large replica temple built to commemorate 500 years since the fall of the ancient Aztec capital Tenochtitlan to Hernan Cortes, the leader of the invading Spanish force and the armies of his indigenous allies.
Cortes and his allies defeated the Aztec leaders and the Mexica people who lived in Tenochtitlan, which later became Mexico City. They then looted and razed the city, ushering in three centuries of Spanish domination.
"Today we remember the fall of the great Tenochtitlan and we apologize to the victims of the catastrophe caused by the Spanish military occupation of Mesoamerica and the territory of the current Mexican Republic," Lopez Obrador said.
Lopez Obrador has said the Spanish monarchy and Roman Catholic Church should formally apologize for the atrocities committed during the conquest.
The leftist President on Friday repeated previous criticisms that colonialists narrated history at their convenience.
Lopez Obrador has repeatedly blamed colonial-era abuses when setting out the origins of inequality and corruption in Mexico. Surveys show many Mexicans consider themselves to be of mestizo heritage, a mixture of European and indigenous roots.
Areas with high concentrations of indigenous people tend to be more impoverished, and thus closer to the electoral base of Lopez Obrador, who has vowed to put Mexico's poor first.
As the anniversary approached, Lopez Obrador stepped up criticism of Spain and other European countries, including Austria, whose former ruling family, the Habsburgs, also sat at the head of a French-imposed Mexican Empire in the 1860s.
(Production: Alberto Fajardo, Liamar Ramos) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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