The Mexican government officially apologized to the indigenous Mayan people on Monday 3 May for the wrongs committed against them since the Spanish conquest. These excuses coincide with the five hundred years of the conquest of Mexico, the “Conquista”.
They were formulated at the initiative of the President of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, and his counterpart from Guatemala, Alejandro Giammattei, in the municipality of Felipe Carrillo Puerto, Quintana Roo (south-east). Referring in particular to the caste war, in the XIXe century, the Mexican president said:
“We apologize to the Mayan people for the terrible abuses committed by national and foreign individuals and powers during the Conquest, the three centuries of colonial rule and the two centuries of independent Mexico. “
This conflict corresponds to an uprising of the enslaved Mayans in the Yucatan (southeast), which began in 1847 and ended in 1901, the indigenous Mayans opposing the white and mixed populations.
Racism and discrimination
During the ceremony, the Mexican government recognized the racism and discrimination that this ethnic minority still suffers from two centuries after Mexico’s independence.
The construction of the Mayan Train, flagship project of the current Mexican government, was mentioned during the ceremony and aroused the boos of the inhabitants. In June 2020, Mr. Lopez Obrador gave the green light to the construction of the 1,500-kilometer Mayan Train line scheduled to cross different parts of the Yucatan Peninsula, where the resort of Cancun is located.
Several organizations reject the project, claiming that it will cause damage to the environment and to several indigenous communities in the region.