the king Philip VI highlighted this Friday that the relationship with Latin America It is “so deep” that “it even allows us to speak frankly about our possible disagreements” that he has considered “inevitable in so many centuries of shared history,” but “always from respect based on friendship.”
“We are the Ibero-Americans, a unity in diversitya culture of cultures,” said King Felipe VI in his opening speech at the Meeting of Spanish American Academies of History, organized by the Obra PÃa de los Pizarro Foundation, in the municipality of Trujillo, in Cáceres. The event has been held three days after the inauguration of the new Mexican president, Claudia Sheinbaum, to which he was not invited and in which there was no representation from Spain, although some Spanish politicians attended.
In this time “of great global challenges that require the coordinated effort of everyone”, King Felipe VI has considered that the “focus” of the relationship with Ibero-America “must be oriented toward the presentin order to prepare or build an even better future, of greater shared benefit, of greater opportunities.
For this reason, Felipe VI stressed, “the essential thing is to gain momentum as it unites us, in our affinities, to ultimately reach pragmatic, useful and balanced answers,” and that “reach everyone.”
Culture “is the rock on which our brotherhood is built, the element that structures our identity,” said Felipe VI in his speech before the representatives of the Academies of History of Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Uruguay and Spain.
“History and very intense ties of affection”
In his speech, Philip VI He recalled that this year, 2024, marks a decade of his reign, and recalled a fragment of his speech from then, which today “maintains its full validity”, in which he pointed out that “with the Ibero-American countries we are united by history and very intense ties of affection and brotherhood”, as well as “growing economic ties and increasingly closer visions of the global”.
Furthermore, “above all, we are united by our shared language and culture. An asset of immense value that we must enhance with determination and generosity,” Felipe VI recalled.
The monarch has alluded to the language, the shared History “with its fruits in science, urban planning, letters, arts or thought”, and to its “conflicts and disputes”, and has also indicated that “he could also talk about travel, trade, communication: of all the culture, which since the end of the 15th century, flowed through the arteries that connected the world,” he said.
As he pointed out, this meeting of historians that is being held this weekend between Trujillo and Madrid, “is another example, in the field of the humanities, of what we can do together”, which is why he addressed the representatives of the Academies of History to point out that they fill it “with meaning with your presence, with your scientific spirit.”
A spirit that, “free of prejudices and interests, allows us to analyze, interpret, agree or disagree, always from the rigor and understanding of each historical context,” highlighted Felipe VI, who trusted that this meeting will represent “a time and place for concordbrotherhood and the cultivation of your beautiful discipline, with no other purpose than to delve into it and spread it,” he said.
Extremadura and Trujillo linked to America
Furthermore, the monarch has valued that Extremadura and Trujillo are “a land and a city so linked to America”, so “it has great significance that the first day of this Meeting is celebrated in this city so full of history and whose architecture reflects it well”, like the Barrantes-Cervantes palace in which this event is celebrated.
Regarding the Meeting of the Hispano-American Academies of History that he inaugurated, Felipe VI wanted to “recognize the work of the Obra PÃa de los Pizarro Foundation, for “promoting meetings and dialogues about Spain and America”, as well as the Royal Academy of History for “creating, together with the sister Academies of the American hemisphere, a space to advance together, to know and understand each other better and better, as societies and as countries.”
For this reason, the king has shown himself to be “confident” that this meeting will result in “shared projects based on respect to our ties and our diversity.
The meeting, organized by the Royal Academy of History and the Obra PÃa de los Pizarro Foundation, was attended by the Minister of Education, Pilar AlegrÃa; the president of the Government of Extremadura, MarÃa Guardiola; the director of the Royal Academy of History, Carmen Iglesias; the president of the Obra PÃa de los Pizarro Foundation, Hernando de Orellana Pizarro, and the mayor of Trujillo, Inés Rubio, among other authorities.
King Felipe VI during the Meeting of the Hispano-American Academies of History. Royal House (@CasaReal)