A commemorative event was held today in the National Palace to mark the 80th anniversary of the arrival of Spanish Republican exiles in Mexico after the defeat of the Second Spanish Republic and the end of the Spanish Civil War.
The event was held during the morning press conference and was headed by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. Also present were Foreign Secretary Marcelo Ebrard; the Secretary of State for Global Spain, Irene Lozano; Spain's ambassador in Mexico, Juan López-Dóriga; the president of the Spanish Athenaeum of Mexico, Ernesto Casanova; and Lázaro Cárdenas, the President's senior advisor.
The president underscored the exemplary solidarity shown by the government of then President Lázaro Cárdenas, whom he described as the most humanitarian president in Mexico's history.
Foreign Secretary Marcelo Ebrard said welcoming the Spanish exile showed that Mexican diplomacy is committed to humanity's best causes: generosity, solidarity and a commitment to those who are being persecuted. He declared, "Our cause must always be to act as a compass to defend people's freedoms and rights."
Secretary of State for Global Spain Irene Lozano relayed a message of "friendship, gratitude and appreciation from Spain" to Mexico for “welcoming those who fled from persecution in Spain and for offering a new homeland, new hope, a new life and a new future to those who thought they had lost everything."
Ernesto Casanova, president of the Spanish Athenaeum of Mexico, thanked the President on behalf of the exiles and their descendants for the continued solidarity in keeping alive the memory of the event.
President López Obrador reiterated Mexico's commitment to respect and guarantee the right to asylum, saying, "We will always protect and treat migrants with respect, because they have been exiled by necessity, by hunger, and they are fleeing their homeland to save their own lives. Therefore, they deserve our respect."
The President further said, "The government will be very respectful of the government and people of the United States, but at the same time we will respect migrants' human rights by using the noble craft of politics to avoid confrontation."
The commemoration was also attended by the President of the Board of Trustees of the Spanish Athenaeum of Mexico, Gerardo Ferrando Bravo; the Undersecretary of Justice for Historical Memory, Cristina Latorre; the Executive Director of Cultural Diplomacy of the Foreign Ministry, Enrique Márquez; and the dean of the Spanish exiles in Mexico, Fernando Rodríguez Miaja, who was given a document by the president reaffirming his affection for and recognition of the thousands of Spaniards who made Mexico their homeland after being painfully exiled from theirs.
The Foreign Ministry's area of Cultural Diplomacy named Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas as commissioner for the commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the arrival of the Spanish Republican exile. He, together with the Spanish Athenaeum of Mexico, has organized several cultural and academic events to mark the event.
The main event will take place today in the Port of Veracruz, and will be a tribute to the survivors who arrived in the so-called "Freedom Boats." During the event, which will be led by Foreign Secretary Marcelo Ebrard, Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas and Ernesto Casanova, a plaque will be unveiled in Republic Square in the city center. There will be three days of cultural events in the port held with the support of the state and local governments and with the participation of the exile community and their descendents.
