LETTER FROM MADRID
"1492. Neither genocidaires nor slavers. They were heroes and saints." Accompanying the image of conquistador Pedro Menendez de Aviles, governor of Spanish Florida in the 16th century, this caption is displayed on huge billboards that appeared in the metro and on the streets of Madrid a few days before October 12, the date of the national holiday.
This striking communication campaign is sponsored by the Catholic Association of Propagandists, which also owns the private CEU San Pablo University. A QR code links to a video mimicking a TV quiz show, praising the "culture," "melting pot" and "evangelization" brought to America by the Spaniards and "debunking" the Spanish "Black Legend."
Every year, the national holiday, also known as Hispanidad, which celebrates the "discovery" of America by Christopher Columbus on October 12, 1492, comes with the same controversies and debates. Some believe that this "day of shame" commemorates "genocide" and "five centuries of plunder, slavery and colonization," as summed up by the radical left-wing party Podemos. Others feel that it has to do with "the greatness of Spain" and its essential role in "the spread of Western civilization" and "the history of mankind," as claimed by the far-right Vox party. Between the two, the official version − since Spain made it the national holiday in 1987 − has been that October 12 celebrates "the meeting of two worlds," a "collective history" and "brotherhood" between their peoples.
This year, the controversy went international when Mexico's new President Claudia Sheinbaum removed King of Spain Felipe VI from the guest list of her inauguration ceremony on October 1. She first demanded an apology for crimes committed during the conquest, echoing a demand by former Mexican president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador: In March 2019, he had sent a letter to the king asking him to issue a "public and official" apology for "the harm caused" by the Spanish conquistadors to Mexico's indigenous communities.
Felipe VI did not reply, and then-minister of foreign affairs Josep Borrell quipped that Spain should demand an apology from France for the Napoleonic invasions, and Paris should demand one from Italy for Julius Caesar's conquest of Gaul.
Sheinbaum's veto to the king's presence did not sit with Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez who considered it "unacceptable" and "inexplicable." He decided not to send any official representatives to the ceremony. The alternative left party, Sumar, which governs in coalition with the Socialist Party, was clearly uncomfortable. Its parliamentary spokesman, Inigo Errejon, said that while he respected the government's decision, he was "sending a warm and fraternal greeting to the president of Mexico" and wondering whether it wasn't time to move on from a monarchy to a republic.
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