Mexico City, May 7 (EFE).- Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum published on Thursday an edict from the Spanish King Charles I, dated 1548 in the city of Valladolid, in which, in her opinion, the «atrocities» of Hernán Cortés were discussed. This move comes amid the controversy surrounding the recent defense of the conquistador by the President of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, who is currently visiting the country.
«Here I leave you the edict of Charles I of Spain in Valladolid, from 1548, in which he speaks of the atrocities of Hernán Cortés, whom the Mexican right now intends to vindicate. The original peoples are the true reserve of values of the Mexico of yesterday and today,» the Mexican Chief Executive emphasized in a brief message on her social media.
She also attached photographs of the aforementioned colonial-era royal decree, in which the Royal Council of the Indies ordered the release of «all the Indians whom the Marquis of the Valley (Hernán Cortés) made slaves in the Indies,» referring to the American territories conquered by Spain.
The text mentioned events of the time in which the Spanish conquistador, recently championed by Ayuso, was implicated, such as the massacre of 400 men from the Indigenous town of Cachula, the forced enslavement of descendants of the original peoples, and the Cholula massacre perpetrated by Hernán Cortés’ forces.
«I command the said Spaniards that they kill them, and that thus many of them (the Indigenous people) had died and the others had been made slaves,» reads the decree of the Council of the Indies shared by the president.
The official visited of the Madrid regional leader to Mexico, from where she praised the figure of Cortés, defended the purity of the miscegenation of the time, and attacked the governing party (Morena), has unleashed criticism from officialist politicians and Sheinbaum herself, who stated that the Mexican society «will hardly want someone who adores» the Spanish conquistador.
She also criticized Ayuso’s «ignorance» of history and said that those who defend the conquest or Hernán Cortés are «destined for defeat.»
The Madrid president will be in Mexico until May 12 and has a planned stop in the Riviera Maya for the upcoming Platino Awards celebration, in a week-long trip that has received harsh criticism from the Spanish opposition, which considers it «a full-blown provocation.» EFE
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