The controversial visit of Isabel Díaz Ayuso to Mexico and her defense of Hernán Cortés continues to cause a stir. One day after the president of the Community of Madrid announced the abrupt cancellation of her tour, which still had five days left, President Claudia Sheinbaum referred again to the controversy. “Imagine that there are Mexican women and men who bring a Spanish woman, president of the Community of Madrid, and recognize Hernán Cortés, who came to invade the territories that existed on this land with terrible discrimination, violence, slavery, extermination,” Sheinbaum said this Saturday in Sonora, during a symbolic act of land restitution to the Yaqui community, one of the indigenous peoples of Mexico.
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The leader had already criticized Ayuso’s agenda, who besides attending a tribute to Cortés, participated in events of the PAN and the circle of the opposition businessman Ricardo Salinas Pliego. During her Thursday morning press conference, she accused the Spanish right-wing leader of “ignorance” of Spanish history itself by recalling the criticisms in her own country of the figure of the conqueror. Ayuso’s thesis, that colonization was a civilizing process and not a genocide, is one of the spearheads of the cultural war promoted by the right and far-right in Spain.
Sheinbaum’s criticisms this time had a more internal reading. “There are Mexicans who still think that Mexico began when the Spaniards arrived. The Fourth Transformation believes that the greatness of Mexico comes from the indigenous peoples, from those of the north, from those of the center, from those of the south, with their great diversity.” A message especially directed at the PAN. The conservative party retreated as the days went by. After the first controversy right after Ayuso’s arrival, with the tribute to Cortés, initially planned in the cathedral but canceled by the Archdiocese, the events planned with the PAN had a low profile.
The stop in Aguascalientes was expected to be the greatest rapprochement of the Madrid leader with the conservative party — the historical ally of the PP — but the rising controversy was dampening the enthusiasm of the four PAN governors, who avoided publicizing the meeting or, outright, remained silent, like the one from Querétaro, Mauricio Kuri.
Finally, Ayuso’s team announced the cancellation of the tour on Friday accusing the Mexican Government of a boycott, which it had previously labeled as a “narco-state” and of aligning with other Latin American dictatorships such as Cuba or Nicaragua. Regarding the reasons for the abrupt cancellation, Ayuso’s team accused the Mexican Government of threatening the organizers of the Ibero-American Cinema Platino Awards, which are held on Saturday afternoon in the Riviera Maya, with closing the resort where the gala would take place if she participated.
The Platino organizers assured EL PAÍS that they were not aware of such closure threats. Xcaret, which has hosted these audiovisual awards since 2018, also “categorically denied” having received threats from federal or local authorities to boycott the awards ceremony. In a statement, the powerful consortium did confirm having requested the awards to withdraw Ayuso’s invitation due to the “unfortunate statements” made by the Community of Madrid.