The Catalan Parliament has this Thursday voted to apologise "to the societies and institutions, heirs of the colonial exploitation and slavery" and urged the Catalan government to ask its Spanish counterpart to "condemn [it] and officially apologise" too.
The chamber passed a motion presented by Ferran Civit (ERC) with votes in favour from JxCat, ERC, En Comú and CUP. PSC abstained, Cs voted against and PP didn't participate.
During his speech, Civit directly addressed Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador, saying he was "taking up the gauntlet" after the president had asked Spanish king Felipe VI and pope Francis by letter to apologise for the Conquista and colonialism.
The Parliament "accepts the moral responsibilities for Catalonia's participation in the colonialism and slavery within Spanish imperialism" and "regrets that the majority of the institutions which are heirs to the former 'mother country', including the Spanish state, have ignored the requests for moral reparation from the former colonies".
During his speech, Matías Alonso (Cs) said that the text's "only reason for being" is to demonstrate that "the mere existence of Spain" is "the worst of humanity".
Alejandro Fernández (PP) said that the vote is in contrast to the inability of certain groups in the chamber "to empathise with what happened four hours ago".