President of Argentina Makes Racist Statement during Visit of Prime Minister of Spain

He said that Brazilians came from the jungle and Argentines arrived by boat from Europe

Buenos Aires

In a meeting this Wednesday (9) with the Prime Minister of Spain, in Buenos Aires, Argentine President Alberto Fernández said that "the Mexicans came from the indigenous people, the Brazilians, from the jungle, and we arrived in boats."."These were boats that came from Europe," he said, pointing to Pedro Sánchez.

Argentina's President Alberto Fernandez (R) gestures as he speaks to Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez before a joint press conference outside the Casa Rosada in Buenos Aires on June 9, 2021. (Photo by JUAN MABROMATA / AFP) - AFP

The Argentine leader believed he was referring to a phrase incorrectly attributed to the Mexican writer Octavio Paz (1914-1998), Nobel Prize for Literature in 1990, in which he was supposed to have talked about the Aztec roots of the Mexicans and the Inca origin of the Peruvians. Fernández, however, got it wronng, and the phrase is actually part of a song by composer Litto Nebbia.

After the repercussions of the statement, the Argentine president published a message on Twitter in which he said that "our diversity is a pride." Also on Twitter, president Jair Bolsonaro responded with a photo of an indigenous person and the word, "JUNGLE," next to the Brazilian flag.

Translated by Kiratiana Freelon

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