Mexico leader wants to 'pause' relations with Spain

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has engaged in periodic quarrels with Spain, but relations reached a new low when he said bilateral ties should be put on "pause".

The populist, nationalist leader made it sound sort of like a "time-out" for Spain, a country he had previously asked to apologise for the brutality of the 1521 Conquest of Mexico and centuries of colonial rule. Spain never did, and some have accused López Obrador of using the five-century-old issue to distract attention. The president didn't explain exactly what a "pause" would mean, but the proposal came at the end of a diatribe against Spanish energy companies he said had taken unfair advantage of private-sector openings in Mexico. He claimed they engaged in "robbery" and treated Mexico like "a conquered land".