The country's president apologises for abuses committed in the five centuries since Spain's conquest.
Mexico's president has apologised to the indigenous Mayan people for abuses committed against them over the five centuries since the Spanish conquest.
Andrés Manuel López Obrador spoke at an event also attended by Guatemalan leader Alejandro Giammattei in the south-east state of Quintana Roo. He focused on the 1847-1901 Caste War revolt in which around 250,000 people are believed to have lost their lives."We offer the most sincere apologies to the Mayan people for the terrible abuses committed by individuals and national and foreign authorities in the conquest, during three centuries of colonial domination and two centuries of an independent Mexico," Mr Lopez Obrador said.
"However, by revisiting our history, we can analyse the present and realise that we are still facing the loss of human lives but now at the hands of organised crime, because of malnutrition, and the tireless search for the dream and opportunities that so many people pursue.
However, the timing will also be met with some scepticism. There is just a month before vital legislative and municipal elections, and President López Obrador continues to push forward with his pet project of the Tren Maya - a tourist train which will run through a region called the Riviera Maya - despite overwhelming local opposition.
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