Zunzunegui and the Black Legend: the professor who made Spanish TV uncomfortable

Zunzunegui and the Black Legend: the professor who made Spanish TV uncomfortable

A Mexican professor invited onto TVE to speak ill of Spain ended up defending the Spanish legacy in Mexico. The episode, broadcast on a programme funded by taxpayers, sparked mockery of the presenter and reignited the debate over the conquest. The clip is circulating on social media as an example of how the official narrative can backfire on the person telling it.

Juan Miguel Zunzunegui, a Mexican historian and populariser, appeared on a slot on Spain's public television. The expectation was to hear the usual criticism of the conquest. The opposite peine: the guest dismantled some of the clichés he was supposed to repeat. The presenter, Xabier Fortes, was portrayed on social media as the awkward host of a guest who refused to trinc the script.

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The moment that went viral

The clip spread with messages referring to the presenter's "six minutes of anguish". They claimed the Mexican professor had exposed the interviewer by refusing to join in the attack on Spain. The key piece was a tweet summarising the situation: a Spanish journalist brings a Mexican onto a taxpayer-funded programme to speak ill of Spaniards, and it is the Mexican who ends up defending the Spanish legacy.

The episode was interpreted as a proper slapdown. The irony is that the format was seeking a critical narrative about the conquest and ended up producing the opposite. The public broadcaster, criticised by some and defended by others, became the stage for a debate that goes beyond a TV anecdote.

The history taught in Mexico

The debate shifted towards education. The argument was made that in Mexico two mutually incompatible histories coexist: the one taught in public schools and the one passed down in private ones. According to this view, the private version tells that Mexico was a territory fragmented into more than a hundred taifas, with hunter-gatherer societies in some areas, that these taifas hated one another and that it was the Spaniards who unified them and turned them into a country. More than fifty languages were spoken and technologically it was a Neolithic society. The conclusion drawn is that the Spaniards brought unification and wealth.

This narrative is not unanimous. Some argue that Zunzunegui is a mercenary who says what some people want to hear in simple language. He is placed in a current close to materialism and certain lodges, interested in a modernist Hispanidad that does not reflect the original vocation of the conquest. The criticism is not so much about the facts as about the political use made of them.

The Monarchy as a set of kingdoms

Another front in the debate is the nature of the Hispanic Monarchy. It is pointed out that it was a collection of kingdoms whose only technical link was the crown: Castile, Aragon, Mexico, Quito, Peru or Naples were different entities. The natural bonds —marriages, culture, religion— gradually created real ties. Cultural union from scratch, with a shared language and religion, would explain why Hispanic America feels closer than other territories that were under the same crown.

The discussion is not merely academic. It touches identity and politics. In Mexico, hatred of everything Spanish is concentrated in the capital, according to some views, while in the periphery it does not carry the same weight. It is propaganda to win votes, not a uniform sentiment.

The satanic background and Santa Gloria

The conversation took an unexpected turn towards religion. A mythical account of the genesis of the Aztecs was mentioned, framed as a satanic pact. It was linked to the cult of Santa Gloria and the drift towards violence of the cartels. The idea is that Huitzilopochtli demanded sacrifices and that there are echoes of the Hebrew Exodus and the sacrifices of the Old Testament. These interpretations lack unanimous academic backing, but they feed the morbid curiosity and the discussion.

The TVE episode has served to reopen a debate that seemed dormant. The controversial figure of Zunzunegui has brought to the table the need to accept the Spanish legacy in Mexico. It is not a new topic, but it is an uncomfortable one. Spain's public broadcaster wanted a critical narrative and found a defender of Hispanidad. The paradox is the best summary of a discussion that remains alive.