MADRID: Spain’s Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares on Friday acknowledged the “pain and injustice” inflicted on Indigenous peoples during the Spanish conquest of the Americas, after Mexico renewed calls for an official apology.

Speaking at the opening of the exhibition of Indigenous Mexican art in Madrid, Albares said relations between Spain and Mexico were “a very human story, and like every human story, full of light and shadow.

“There has also been pain — pain and injustice toward Indigenous peoples, to whom this exhibition is dedicated,” he added.

“There was injustice — it is only fair to recognize it today, and fair to regret it. Because that is also part of our shared history, and we cannot deny or forget it.” The remarks mark one of the clearest acknowledgments by a top Spanish official of the suffering endured by Indigenous communities in the Americas during the colonial era.

For years, the issue was a source of diplomatic tension between the two countries.

In 2019, Mexico’s then-president, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, sent a letter to Madrid demanding an apology from Spain’s monarchy for abuses committed during Spain’s 1519-1521 Conquest of Mexico and the ensuing three centuries of colonial rule.

Published in Dawn, November 1st, 2025