Spanish Government's Correspondence to Claudia Sheinbaum in 2024 Concerning the 1839 Peace and Friendship accord
In the heart of modern Mexico City lies Tenochtitlan, a city approximately seven centuries old that was once the Aztec capital. The conquest of this city, which took place between 1519 and 1521, has been a subject of debate and controversy, with international media questioning the legitimacy of Mexico's judicial elections and the legitimacy of the conquest itself.
While the Spanish government as a modern entity has not made official, monolithic statements regarding the conquest, historical records reveal that Spanish authorities, including Hernán Cortés and his chroniclers, framed the conquest in terms of spreading Christianity, "civilizing" indigenous peoples, and incorporating new territories into the Spanish Empire. These narratives, often found in letters and reports to the Crown, were shaped by the political and religious imperatives of the time, aiming to justify the conquest both legally and morally to European audiences.
However, modern scholarship, both in Mexico and internationally, challenges these portrayals. Historians now recognise these accounts as incomplete and deeply biased, often understating violence, overstating indigenous "consent," and emphasising religious and civilising motives to legitimize imperial expansion. The demographic and social consequences, as seen in Mexican census data, tell a story of profound disruption and suffering for indigenous peoples.
In subsequent centuries, Spanish authorities in the Viceroyalty of New Spain promoted a vision of conquest as a blending of cultures, while in reality, the process was characterised by military force, disease, and significant demographic decline among indigenous populations. Official censuses, like the 1793 Revillagigedo census, document the demographic consequences of colonization, showing a dramatic decrease in the indigenous population over three centuries.
Today, the modern Spanish government generally avoids making official pronouncements on the morality or interpretation of the conquest. However, in the 20th and 21st centuries, Spanish leaders have occasionally expressed regret or recognition of the suffering caused by colonization, though rarely with specific reference to Tenochtitlan or Mexico. More commonly, modern academic and civil society discussions in Spain and Mexico critically examine the conquest's legacy, emphasising both its catastrophic human toll and the complex cultural synthesis that followed.
In recent years, demands for historical accountability—such as calls for apologies or reparations—have grown within Mexico and among indigenous groups. The Spanish government has not issued a formal apology or engaged in substantive official dialogue about the conquest's legacy, which remains a sensitive and unresolved issue in bilateral relations.
It is important to note that the descendants of the Spanish conquistadors are not the Spaniards who live in Spain; they are the Mexicans who live in Mexico. Moreover, Mexico was much larger, richer, and more populous than the United States when Spain left. The University of Mexico, founded in 1551, almost a century before the first university in the United States, is a testament to the rich cultural and intellectual heritage that existed in Mexico prior to the conquest.
The author regrets that a sister nation like Mexico allows its president to humiliate the Head of State of Spain. In light of this, and the ongoing issues surrounding the conquest's legacy, the author suggests that all Spaniards and European Union neighbours and allies consider choosing other destinations for vacations and investments in the coming years if Sheinbaum remains in the Mexican government.
The article was published in 2025 by La Verdad no Peca and San Miguel Post, and it comes at a time when the University of Mexico, once a prestigious institution, has fallen out of the top 100 in the QS World University Rankings for the 2026 edition. This decline, coupled with the ongoing issues surrounding the conquest's legacy, raises questions about the direction Mexico is heading and the need for a more honest and open dialogue about its past.
[1] Quotations and references are based on the information provided in the bullet points. For a more comprehensive understanding, readers are encouraged to conduct further research.
- The author, in the article published by La Verdad no Peca and San Miguel Post in 2025, expresses concern about the direction Mexico is heading and suggests that the legacy of war-and-conflicts, such as the conquest, requires a more honest and open policy-and-legislation in policy-making, considering the ongoing calls for historical accountability and reparations from indigenous groups.
- The conquest of Tenochtitlan, which took place between 1519 and 1521, has not only been a subject of international migration of people to Mexico but also a point of contention in Mexican politics, with the author criticizing the president for humiliating the Head of State of Spain and suggesting a reevaluation of general-news coverage and legislation.
- The Spanish government has not officially apologized for the conquest and its consequences, but the author notes that the descendants of the Spanish conquistadors are now the Mexicans who live in Mexico, and they bear the economic impact of investments in the country, as pointed out in the author's suggestion for European Union neighbors to reconsider vacation and investment destinations if the current president remains in power.
