Evo Morales says Europe should apologize to indigenous and African peoples

Former Bolivian President Evo Morales said on Thursday that European countries should seek “forgiveness from indigenous and African peoples” after Vatican abandon the so-called “The Doctrine of Discovery”who defended the colonization since the fifteenth century America And Africa.

“After more than 500 years Catholic Church rejects the misnamed “doctrine of discovery” that justified genocide, looting and atrocities against the indigenous and African peoples of European colonization,” wrote Morales, considered the first indigenous president in history Bolivianone of the countries with the largest indigenous population.

“There was no opening, there was an imperialist criminal attack,” he added on his Twitter account.

The Vatican rejects the so-called “doctrine of discovery”.

The “doctrine of discovery” is not part of the teachings of the Catholic Church, said The Holy See in a joint communiqué between the Dicastery (Vatican Ministry) for Culture and Education and the Integral Service for Human Development.

Already from the end of the 15th century, with several papal bulls, this teaching laid the foundations for the conquest “in the name of God” America And Africasuch powers as the Spaniards or the Portuguese.

For example, Pope Nicholas V, in his bull Dum Diversas (1452), granted “full and free license” to the Portuguese crown to “capture and enslave Saracens and pagans” in its African expansion.

While the pontiff Alejandro VI Borgia, with his bull “Inter Caetera” (1493), blessed the arrival of the Spaniards in America, a year after the first journey of Christopher Columbus, and stipulated the distribution of possessions disputed between Castile and Portugal.

“It would be good if European countries apologized to indigenous and African peoples”

In this sense, Morales argued that “European nations that made their fortunes through colonization would do well to ask for forgiveness from indigenous and African peoples.”

“Have the dignity of stopping your colonial and interventionist policies. Bolivian still remembers the performance of European countries in the coup of (former interim President Janine) Agnès,” he said.

For Bolivia’s ruling party, the 2019 crisis was a “coup d’état” against Morales, while for the opposition it was about rigged elections in favor of the then president and gaining access to a fourth consecutive term.

Relations between the Catholic Church and Bolivian government It was already tense in the Morales administration (2006-2019) and became even more distant in the administration of President Luis Arce.

(EFE)