Reconciliation?!

We are having a lazy day today and I have just been reading more on the history of Merida. Once again I came upon something that set my blood boiling. On the Plaza Grande is the Cathedral de San Ildefonso, a church built in 1561 containing the Cristo de la Unidad or “Christ of Unity”. This was intended as the Church’s “symbol of reconciliation between the Spanish and the Mayan people”.

Ironically, this very church was built with Mayan forced labour using the very stones ripped from a Mayan Temple that previously occupied the same site. The stones were stripped of any carvings indicating their previous use before they went into the construction of the church. Not satisfied with merely killing, enslaving and infecting the Mayans, the "Christian" conquers attempted to remove all traces of their culture from Mexico and to replace it with their own.

Reconciliation!? What nerve! First rebuild the Temples destroyed and stripped to build your own idols. Return the shiploads of gold artefacts stolen from these temples. Return the Galleons full of silver mined using slave labour! Compensate for the systematic elimination of the Aboriginal population of 25 million when the Spanish arrived to the fewer than one million by the time they left. Millions died, either by the sword or infected with smallpox and syphilis. Give the Aboriginal People of this country their traditions and dignity back. Do all of this and then and only then will you have the right to talk of reconciliation!

I understand several countries in South America are currently exploring avenues to sue Spain for the damage done to their countries by the Spanish invasion and occupation. I wish them every success in this endeavour. It is time the schoolyard bullies of the world learn there are consequences for their actions.