MEXICO CITY: Mexicans celebrated the 200th anniversary of their country’s independence from Spain on Monday with a commemoration featuring fireworks, theatre, and pyrotechnics in the capital’s central plaza.

The event in Mexico City’s Zocalo square, once the heart of the Aztec empire, was headed by President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

“What we experienced that day, 200 years ago, marked forever our political separation with Spain,” said AMLO, the acronym by which the president is known.

Multiple countries sent congratulatory messages, including US President Joe Biden, who assured that his country “has no closer friend than Mexico.” “I look forward to all that our two nations will accomplish together in the years to come,” Biden said in recorded video.

Pope Francis’ congratulations included an acknowledgment of the Catholic Church’s “sins” in Mexico.

AMLO has asked the Spanish government and the Vatican several times to apologise for the “massacres and oppression” committed in the name of colonising and evangelising the indigenous peoples of Mexico.

“Both my predecessors and I have asked for forgiveness for personal and social sins,” Pope Francis wrote.

In a ceremony that limited visitors due to the Covid-19 pandemic, organisers used theatre, multimedia displays, and pyrotechnics to illustrate the country’s pre-Hispanic history, including the war for independence.

The staging is part of a series of events organised by the Mexican government to mark the 700th anniversary of the founding of the Aztec capital and the 500th anniversary of the Spanish conquest.

Published in Dawn, September 29th, 2021