The trail left by Isabel Díaz Ayuso’s trip to Mexico continues to grow. The president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, has reacted to the statements with which the president of Madrid justified before the Assembly of her community a visit full of controversy. “Our Amerindian existence dates back 60,000 years and our first artists painted murals for generations 30,000 years ago,” wrote the leader through his X account.
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In his message, the left-wing politician took advantage of the opportunity to bring up an unresolved issue again, which is that Spain “retains” the Quimbaya Treasure, which is exhibited at the Museum of America in Madrid and which his government has formally requested to be returned to Colombians. “Our pre-Columbian goldsmiths from where the Quimbaya treasure that Spain retains came from, made goldsmith artworks 3,000 years ago, at the time of the Egyptians. We are the Latin American civilization,” the president claimed.
Our Amerindian existence dates back 60,000 years and our first artists painted murals for generations 30,000 years ago.
Our pre-Columbian goldsmiths from where the Quimbaya treasure that Spain retains came from, made goldsmith artworks 3,000 years ago, in… https://t.co/1MV8IDsHLd
— Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) May 14, 2026
Petro’s statements are in the same line as those of the Mexican president, Claudia Sheinbaum, who has invited the Spanish right-wing leader to spend more time in Mexico: “She would learn a lot,” she said this Thursday in her morning press conference. “She hates Mexico and the Mexican government so much, but she spent 10 days on vacation. Let her come more, let her spend more vacation time here. We are an extraordinary country. Let her get to know more about Mexican culture, let her live as the people live. I think she would learn a lot about Mexico’s cultural greatness,” Sheinbaum concluded.
The tension between Ayuso and Sheinbaum, from opposite ideological sides, had been brewing for some time, and the trip only deepened it. Before leaving, the president of Madrid had referred to Mexico as a “narco-state” and to Sheinbaum as an ultra-left dictator. Once on American soil, Ayuso claimed the role of Hernán Cortés in Mexican history, while that country has been requesting for years that the Spanish Crown apologize for the grievances, atrocities, and violence committed during the Conquest.
Ayuso’s statements, which caused discomfort in Mexico, were fuel for the opposition in Madrid. During the Assembly session, her opponents subjected her to several questions amid doubts about her early return and what her agenda had been during the last two days of the trip, for which there was no record. Ayuso argued that she returned for security reasons, after receiving threats, and that the Mexican president herself had encouraged a climate of boycott and hostility against her. It was then that she launched the phrase that ended up fueling the controversy: “Mexico did not exist until the Spaniards arrived.”
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