Mexican President Meets Spanish Leader in Barcelona After Summit

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and Spain's Pedro Sanchez met in Barcelona on Saturday after a summit of progressive leaders. The encounter took place during Sheinbaum's visit to attend the fourth “In defence of democracy” summit. The summit gathered global leftist leaders to mobilize advocates against far-right movements.

This meeting marked the first visit by a Mexican president to Spain in eight years, since the Morena party came to power in 2018.

Background on Bilateral

Relations Relations between Mexico and Spain deteriorated under Sheinbaum's predecessor, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

In 2019, Lopez Obrador requested an apology from Spain for abuses during its colonial rule in Mexico. The request was not met at the time. Sheinbaum told reporters that there had been a rapprochement from the Spanish president and the king, which Mexico acknowledges.

She stated that she outlined Mexico's position on the importance of acknowledging abuses committed during the colonization of Latin America during her meeting with Sanchez.

Future

Engagements Sheinbaum invited Sanchez to attend the fifth edition of the summit, scheduled to be held in Mexico next year.