Aznar against AMLO: without Spain, you “could not be called what it is called”

“And you, what’s your name? My name is Andrés Manuel López Obrador. ‘ Andrés for the Aztecs; Manual from the Mayans; Lopez is a mix”. This is the statement in an ironic tone made this Thursday by the former president of the Spanish government, José María Aznar. All this following the indignation provoked by Pope Francis asking Mexico to forgive the “sins” of the Catholic Church in this territory.

At the People’s Party (PP) national convention, Aznar was firm in his pride in what he sees as the cultural contributions his country has made to Mexico in the past, clearly unlike the crusade that President Andrés Manuel López Obrador set out to find Spain apologize to the Mexicans for what he considers damage caused during the Conquest.

“In this age when forgiveness is requested for everything: I will not join the ranks of those who ask lostn, I’m not going to do it, no matter who says it, “Aznar insisted”, to defend the Spanish nation and the historical significance of the Spanish nation, the historical creations of the Spanish nation, with their light and their darkness , with their successes and their mistakes, I’m ready to be proud, but I won’t ask for forgiveness”.

Following such a statement, the former Spanish leader sent a direct message to López Obrador, highlighting his Spanish surnames: “If certain things had not happened, you would not be here”, and said added: “Now you say Spain must apologize. . And you, what’s your name? Tell me what it’s called. My name is Andrés Manuel López Obrador ”, ironically on the fact that these are Spanish surnames and not Aztec or Mayan. Aznar pointed out that if things had not turned out the way they did, López Obrador “She would not be there,” nor could she be called that, nor “could she have been baptized” or “the evangelization of Mexico” would have taken place.

José María Aznar on Thursday defended “the historical importance of the Spanish nation” and insisted that he is not going to join the ranks of those who ask for forgiveness. “I’m not going to do it”, he proclaimed.

And it is that in Mexico or in Spain, the question of the Conquest, which occurred half a century ago, still continues to be controversial each time the question is put on the table. The most recent opportunity brought the topic back to conversation after last Monday Pope Francis asks Mexico for forgiveness for the “sins” of the Catholic Church in this territory, on the 200 years of the independence of the Latin American country. Soon several actors Spanish politicians have spoken out, defending Spain’s intervention in Mexican culture. But the Vatican, this Thursday, clarified that the document states that they refer to events committed 200 years ago, and not to the conquest of America, urging them (practically) to read the letter carefully before speaking.

On the other hand, the word forgiveness also comes from the intention that President Andrés Manuel López Obrador had that during the 2021 commemorations for the 200 years of the independence of Mexico and the 500 years of the conquest of Hernán Cortés, the Mexican government, the Spanish and the Catholic Church will apologize for the “grievances” committed against the natives.

But, let us remember, the letter he sent in 2019 to King Felipe VI – asking him for an apology for the atrocities perpetrated during the conquest of Mexico 500 years ago – has cooled relations with Spain, a country that refused to participate in these events and Monday at the last minute he canceled his presence at the big event in the Zócalo of the capital to celebrate the bicentenary of the consumption of Mexican independence. The Spanish government considered at the time that “the arrival 500 years ago of the Spaniards on present-day Mexican lands cannot be judged in the light of contemporary considerations”.

Meanwhile, after Aznar’s statements, Mexican politicians from the National Regeneration Movement (Morena), President López Obrador’s party, reacted on the defensive. The Morenoist leader in the Chamber of Deputies, Ignacio Mier, assured on social networks that the surname Aznar comes from the Latin “asinarius” and means “the one who raises or takes care of donkeys”.

“So the origin is fate, he became one of them. There is no doubt,” he said.

The Spanish origin of AMLO

Revolt of José Obrador He was born in the municipality of Ampuero, Cantabria, in 1893. He arrived in Mexico in 1917, where his brothers Manuel and Félix were already waiting for him, with whom he opened a fabric and food store in Tabasco, according to the unauthorized biography “And who is AMLO? “.

From the relationship with Úrsula González, descendant of the Asturians, was born Manuela, the mother of López Obrador.

When Miguel Ángel Revilla, President of Cantabria (an autonomous Spanish community), discovered that López Obrador had a grandfather born there, invited him to visit the land of his ancestors. That is whye in September 2017 the presidential candidate at the time made a two-day stopover in the community of northern Spain.

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