INAH

During the presidential conference, a summary of the various actions for the rescue of historical memory and the defense of historical heritage was presented. The director of the General Archive of the Nation, Carlos Ruiz Abreu, highlighted that during this administration, this institution, which is considered the largest historical collection in Latin America, has gone from the “alarming precariousness in which it was found” to the recovery and digitalization of documents for their preservation.

Before President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Ruiz Abreu said that, among other things, there is unrestricted access to all documentation related to the Federal Security Directorate and the General Directorate of Political and Social Investigations. There are 5.7 million files on police persecution and repression, abuses during the period of the Dirty War and the serious human rights violations that were recorded.

He also mentioned that documents of historical nature that had been illegally extracted were recovered.

For his part, the director of the National Institute of Anthropology and History, Diego Prieto, said that as part of the international projection that was intended to give to the historical and cultural heritage of Mexico, 34 exhibitions were promoted in various countries in Europe, the United States, China, Japan and Abu Dhabi.

He recalled that in parallel with the construction of the Felipe Ángeles International Airport, archaeological pieces were safeguarded and from that, the Mammoth Museum was formed, in the vicinity of the air terminal.

In turn, historian Pedro Salmerón, head of the new General Agrarian Archive, stressed that during the neoliberal period all documentation related to social ownership of land in Mexico, representing more than 51 percent, was abandoned and dumped in three warehouses without the minimum conditions for preservation.

He announced that the new headquarters of the General Agrarian Archives, where all the documentation will be moved, is about to be handed over, said Salmerón.

The conference began with an unusual break from protocol. López Obrador went to the front row to give a hug to the writer Elena Poniatowska, who heads the advisory council of Historical Memory.

He commented that the press conference started late because, at the start of his last week of government, the cabinet meeting that begins at 6 in the morning turned into a farewell party among the members with tamales and mariachis.

To celebrate the 60th anniversary of the National Museum of the Viceroyalty (MNV), located in the municipality of Tepotzotlán, State of Mexico, the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) presented the new board of trustees of that facility, called MNV Benefactors.

The name is in honor of the benefactors of the Jesuits who helped them financially in the New Spain era, which is made up of businessmen, merchants and inhabitants of the State of Mexico, for the most part.

The director general of INAH, Diego Prieto Hernández, said that the integration of this free association, organized by citizens, with the objective of supporting the site in its task of “study, care, recovery, defense, dissemination and social enjoyment of our cultural heritage, particularly that which corresponds to the viceroyalty of New Spain.”

He also unveiled a commemorative plaque. In this regard, the official said that “the National Museum of the Viceroyalty, founded in 1964 inside an emblematic building for baroque architecture, is one of the most beloved settings of the INAH, which is linked to the other four national museum spaces: Anthropology, World Cultures, Interventions and History.”

Prieto Hernández also announced that the intention is to restructure the MNV’s museographic script, by “strengthening the discourse and reflection on the catastrophe that was the Spanish invasion, as well as highlighting the Afro-Mexican presence and the resistance of indigenous populations,” for which, he said, there is already a council, an academic commission and a master plan.

Meanwhile, the head of the MNV, María Amparo Clausell, said that, “in these 60 years, the site has carefully safeguarded the 34,133 pieces of its collection, including paintings, sculptures, feather art, ivory, porcelain, shells, furniture and silverware, etc.

This museum preserves its original features, built and decorated between the 17th and 18th centuries, with the intervention of the most famous painters of New Spain, such as Miguel Cabrera, Cristóbal de Villalpando, José de Ibarra and Juan Rodríguez Juárez.

Among the upcoming challenges for the complex is streamlining the infrastructure to facilitate mobility for disabled people, as well as for the elderly, for which an elevator will be added.

Since 2010, the building has been recognized as a World Heritage Site by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, as part of the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, in the Cultural Itinerary category.