On this April 5, 2020 file photograph, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador speaks on the Nationwide Palace in Mexico Metropolis. (AP Picture/Eduardo Verdugo, File)
MEXICO CITY --
Mexico's populist, nationalist chief has engaged in periodic quarrels with Spain, however relations reached a brand new low Wednesday when President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador stated the 2 nations' relations ought to be placed on "pause."
Lopez Obrador made it sound form of like a time-out for Spain, a rustic he had beforehand requested to apologize for the brutality of the 1521 Conquest of Mexico and centuries of colonial rule. Spain by no means did, and a few have accused Lopez Obrador of utilizing the five-century-old concern to distract consideration.
Lopez Obrador did not clarify precisely what a `pause' would imply, however the proposal got here on the finish of a diatribe in opposition to Spanish vitality corporations he stated had taken unfair benefit of private-sector openings in Mexico. The president claimed they engaged in "theft" and handled Mexico like "a conquered land."
"Proper now the connection isn't good," Lopez Obrador stated at his each day information briefing. "I wish to put it on pause, till we are able to normalize it, that I feel can be in the perfect curiosity of Mexicans and Spaniards."
"Let's give ourselves somewhat time, a pause," he stated. "Possibly relations will likely be re-established when the administration modifications."
Spain's Overseas Minister, Jose Manuel Albares, downplayed the Mexican president's remarks, noting they had been made "in an off-the-cuff context, in reply to a journalist's query, and so don't represent and official place or assertion."
"You would need to ask President Lopez Obrador what he meant by this," Albares stated.
Spanish vitality corporations like Repsol and Iberdrola took benefit of openings within the final decade that allowed personal and overseas corporations to construct electrical energy crops in Mexico, a sector as soon as dominated by Mexico's state-owned utility.
Lopez Obrador is searching for to reverse these openings, as a result of he stated the state-owned firm was put at an obstacle with personal corporations. That proposed change has drawn concern about defending the Spanish corporations' investments.
In a 2020 letter, Lopez Obrador wrote "The Catholic Church, the Spanish monarchy and the Mexican authorities ought to make a public apology for the offensive atrocities that Indigenous individuals suffered."
The letter got here as Mexico marked the five hundredth anniversary of the 1519-1521 conquest, which resulted within the loss of life of a big a part of the nation's pre-Hispanic inhabitants.
In 2019, Lopez Obrador requested Spain for an apology for the conquest.
Spain's overseas minister on the time, Josep Borrell stated his nation "won't concern these apologies which were requested."
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