Mexican president asks indigenous for forgiveness over Spanish conquest

Women wearing traditional costumes hold copal censers during an event to mark the day before of the 500th Anniversary of the Fall of Tenochtitlan, at the Zocalo square in downtown Mexico City, Mexico August 12, 2021. REUTERS/Gustavo Graf

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Friday asked the country's indigenous Mexica peoples for forgiveness for the abuses inflicted on them during the bloody 1521 Spanish conquest of the Aztec empire.

Lopez Obrador spoke in front of a large replica temple built to commemorate 500 years since the fall of the ancient Aztec capital Tenochtitlan to Hernan Cortes, the leader of the invading Spanish force and the armies of his indigenous allies.