The hell, respect the old culture? They couldn't completely stamp it out, more like it, but there was no respect there. Some native culture survived despite the Spaniards' attempts, but there was no respect whatsoever. The closest thing to "respect" was stuff like Bartomolé de las Casas thinking that it was cruel to enslave the natives because they weren't strong enough, so it would be better to bring Africans to America and enslave them instead (which he later also regretted, but the damage was done).

I don't even know where could you have possibly gotten the idea that the Spaniards were respectful. Were you told the Leyenda Rosa in school?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_legend

First, understand that Mexicans are a diverse group of people, some with very “Spanish” lineages. Second, the Spanish intentionally erased very large portions of indigenous culture. The Spanish colonizers absolutely did not “respect” the old culture except for very specific and unique instances. I’m not sure how you can possibly say as much? It’s essentially genocide erasure.

Anyways, the Mexican government currently communicates in a variety of indigenous languages on official forms and so they’re certainly trying to reinvigorate those traditions now.

Could you explain where you got the idea that the Spanish as a whole respected indigenous culture in mesoamerica ?

Only on this website could you have someone confidently state that the genocidal colonizers of Spain “respected the culture.” This is so wrong and offensive it could be part of Grok’s system prompt.