Micah Jonah
March 17, 2026
Spain’s King Felipe VI made a rare acknowledgment of the country’s historical abuses during its colonial period, spanning the 16th to 18th centuries across five continents, including much of Central and Latin America. The king noted that Spanish colonial laws “wanted to protect” Indigenous populations, but in practice there was widespread forced labor, land expropriation, and violence.
Speaking during a visit to a museum in Madrid, he emphasized that modern-day perspectives make it impossible to feel pride in certain actions, but stressed the importance of learning from history through “objective and rigorous analysis” rather than moralizing.
The visit coincided with a tour of an exhibition about Indigenous women in Mexico and came amid ongoing diplomatic tensions between Spain and Mexico over colonial legacy. Previous requests by Mexican leaders for formal apologies, including from former President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador
