Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has recognised that Spain's government and royal family have shown a "different approach" over the past year regarding the Spanish Conquest and colonial period, marking a significant thaw in relations between the two countries. Sheinbaum, who is set to meet Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez in Barcelona, has stepped back from her predecessor Andrés Manuel López Obrador's demand for a formal apology from Spain — a stance that had triggered a diplomatic rift nearly a decade ago — instead calling for continued cultural and academic exchange, including Mexican anthropologists travelling to Spain to explain pre-Columbian civilisations. The rapprochement follows a notable gesture in March when King Felipe VI acknowledged there had been "much abuse" and "ethical controversies" during the colonisation of the Americas, remarks widely understood to have been carefully coordinated in advance as a diplomatic signal.