Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum proposed renaming the historic Paso de Cortés mountain pass as "Paso de los Pueblos Indígenas" during a national reforestation event in Puebla state on Sunday, coinciding with the International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples.
The pass, situated between the Popocatépetl and Iztaccíhuatl volcanoes in central Mexico, is named for Hernán Cortés, who crossed it before the conquest of Tenochtitlán following the 1519 massacre at Cholula. Sheinbaum has previously championed similar renamings, including replacing Puente de Alvarado avenue with Calzada México-Tenochtitlan while serving as Mexico City mayor.
The proposal follows a period of evolving bilateral relations with Spain. King Felipe VI acknowledged numerous abuses during the Spanish conquest of the Americas in March, and Sheinbaum hosted the Spanish monarch in June, marking a step toward normalizing ties after predecessor Andrés Manuel López Obrador demanded formal Spanish apologies for colonial-era violence in 2019.