Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Tuesday called on the Spanish government to rectify and apologize for the massacre of millions of indigenous people from America during colonization.
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On the Day of Indigenous Resistance, the Venezuelan president recalled the victims of murder and slavery due to the expansion of Spanish colonizers on the American continent.
'More than 500 years ago, the Spanish empire killed, banished and enslaved millions of indigenous people. They came here to invade, colonize and massacre our grandfathers and grandmothers. Spain must rectify and apologize to all of America,' the dignitary said on Twitter.
In Venezuela we commemorate the Day of Indigenous Resistance. It has been 529 years since the cry of rebellion of our native peoples, who resisted and fought to defend these lands from the Spanish invasion. Today the Bolivarian Revolution vindicates their struggles https://t.co/qFNp9pxbp3
— David Velasquez (@davidvpsuv) October 12, 2021
Executive Secretary of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America-Peoples' Trade Treaty (ALBA-TCP), Sacha Llorenti, also paid tribute to the millions of people exterminated during colonial times. 'Our gratitude goes to those who fought for decades and won the war for our independence. Today, we ratify our anti-imperialist and anti-colonialist essence,' the ALBA-TCP executive secretary said.
Venezuela's Foreign Minister Felix Plasencia recalled that 529 years ago, the arrival of European colonists to the Americas changed the course of humankind, especially the history of the native peoples of the continent.
'Today, we recall the warrior-like impetus of our ancestors, defenders of these lands,' the foreign minister said.