"If history is a volcano and memory is lava, some experiences pour into one's body like fiery lava and congeal there. From that moment on, they can be recalled, immovably, at all times and unchanged. The quote from German historian Reinhart Koselleck, in which he calls upon his experience as a Nazi soldier to examine his country's traumas, does a good job of synthesizing the dilemmas that stack up upon looking at the past and reviewing, many decades or centuries later, historical facts"
"spilling over from more academic debates and into the muck of politics and diplomatic strategy. The latest milestone came when Spain's foreign minister acknowledged that there was injustice and pain during the Conquest, which has served to ease diplomatic tensions that have been particularly severe since former Mexican president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's controversial 2019 letter, in which he asked for an official apology from King Felipe VI of Spain."
A volcano-and-lava metaphor describes how traumatic historical experiences congeal in collective memory and remain vividly retrievable. Spanish colonial legacy in Mexico has moved from academic debate into heated political and diplomatic arenas. A Spanish governmental acknowledgment of injustice during the Conquest helped ease tensions after a 2019 Mexican request for a royal apology. The Spanish political right has pursued historical revisionism while global movements push to address past wrongs. The dispute reflects an asymmetry: relative neglect in Spain versus omnipresent preoccupation in Mexico. Historical events were violent and require complex, nuanced interpretation beyond simple good-versus-bad narratives.
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