López Obrador again tackled the theme of the Spanish conquest: "Never in three centuries did a king of Spain visit us, look at the arrogance, the contempt that the colonizers had for us"

President López Obrador took advantage of events commemorating the anniversary of the Battle of Puebla to return to the theme Spanish conquest.

The President, who in early March sent a letter to Felipe VI asking him to apologize for the grievances made by the Spaniards and the Catholic Church against indigenous peoples, stressed "arrogance" and the "contempt"What the colonizers had.

"Three centuries have been dominated by Spain, Mexico was a country subordinated to the Spanish crown, three centuries. Look at the arrogance, the contempt that the colonizers had for us. Never in three centuries, in three hundred years, has a king of Spain visited us. We belonged to the Kingdom of Spain but they sent viceroys, "he said on Sunday at the Gran Plaza in Piedras Negras, Coahuila, to commemorate the 157th anniversary of the Battle of Puebla.

"Commemorating this day in Piedras Negras, it is reaffirming in the north our nationalism, our sovereign vocation, because it has not been easy to maintain our country as a free and independent nation," said the President.

In March, Mexico escalated tensions and sparked a wave of criticism after learning that he had sent a letter to the King of Spain to demand an apology. for the abuses that have been committed to indigenous peoples during three centuries of domination.

"I have already sent a letter to the King of Spain and another to the Pope, so that a history of grievances be made and that the original peoples be forgiven for the violations of what now we call the rights of man. There were mbadacres, impositions"confirmed the president in a shared video from his Twitter account.

In Spain, the leaders of the Popular Party, the Spanish Socialist Workers Party, Citizens and Vox They rejected the request of López Obrador. On the contrary, the Podemos party sent him messages of support.

"López Obrador is the worthy president of Mexico. He is right to ask that the king apologize for the abuses committed in the "conquest"", Ione Belarra, deputy spokesperson, tweeted.

The President said that he felt "delighted"because of the controversy that has raised the issue, because it's at the origin"an important debate for the country"

"It was good, I do not stop saying it, I feel happy because an important debate, history is important, historical memory is important, it is important to to know where we come from to know where we are going … and we have reached that goal "he explained.

Lopez Obrador stressed that it was "a very good controversy as long as it falls within the framework of respect," he said. Unfortunately, the situation also revealed the racism and the clbadism of the society.

"This debate and what has been raised were so important that he has what was there in the basement, underground currents, came out racism; although they say we are not clbadists, conservatism is there"he said.

At the ceremony held on Sunday, the president insisted that his government consider ending corruption and addressed other issues such as education reform, the health system, the minimum wage, migration and the role of the army.