06/09/2021 4:54 PM
Clarín.com
Politics
Updated 06/09/2021 18:15
President Alberto Fernández apologized for the controversial phrase he uttered in a ceremony at Casa Rosada with the President of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, when he mistook a quote from the Mexican poet Octavio Paz for a song by Litto Nebbia and said that the "Brazilians came out of the jungle "and" the Mexicans came out of the Indians. "
"
It was stated more than once
that 'Argentines descend from ships.' In the first half of the 20th century, we received more than 5 million immigrants who lived with our native peoples.
Our diversity
is a
source of pride
," Fernández tweeted.
And he added:
"I did not want to offend anyone
, in any case, who has felt offended or made invisible, since now my apologies."
I did not want to offend anyone, in any case, who has felt offended or invisible, since now my apologies.
- Alberto Fernández (@alferdez) June 9, 2021
Earlier, along with Sánchez, Fernández pronounced that phrase that later triggered the controversy on social networks due to its racist tinge.
"Octavio Paz once wrote that the Mexicans came out of the Indians, the Brazilians came out of the jungle,
but we Argentines
came from the ships. They were ships that came from Europe," said the Argentine president at the official ceremony held in the pink House.
Those words do not belong to Paz, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, but to the musician Litto Nebbia, a friend of Fernández.
It is part of the song "We arrived from the boats", from the album of the same name, from 1982.
Instead, the phrase attributed to the Mexican poet says that
"Mexicans descend from the Aztecs, Peruvians from the Incas, and Argentines from ships."
Fernández's inopportune statement reached the Brazilian media and also garnered criticism on social media.
"Poor Octavio Paz.
He is not to blame," wrote Pablo Avelluto, Minister of Culture during Mauricio Macri's administration.
Poor Octavio Paz.
It's not his fault.
pic.twitter.com/SxbVAtGTK2
- Pablo Avelluto (@pabloavelluto) June 9, 2021
He was joined by Laura Alonso, head of the Anti-Corruption Office between 2015 and 2019. The former official responded to the president's apology and assured: "You offended us all: the living and the dead."
Alonso, a regular and acid tweeter, had called
Fernández a "
discriminating ass"
hours earlier
.
You offended us all: the living and the dead https://t.co/pOLmExpRh2
- lauraa (@lauritalonso) June 9, 2021
In the same tone, although perplexed, Congressman Fernando Iglesias asked himself:
"And the gorillas, where do we come from?"
Fernández and Nebbia, a 30-year relationship
Nebbia, 72, and Fernández, 62, have maintained a friendly bond
for at least 30 years
, according to the artist from Rosario in an interview with Télam.
The president has among his favorite songs several of the leader of Los Gatos, the legendary founding group of rock in Argentina.
President Alberto Fernández with Litto Nebbia in the presidential office.
JPoto Presidency
He had already turned to Nebbia
in a recent act
.
It was on April 23, in a speech delivered in Santa Fe,
"
I am going to quote Litto Nebbia
. After so much sorrow and melancholy it is only about living," Fernández said, excited, when quoting the song "It's only about living."
Their close relationship was recorded in a photograph taken in December 2019, after the inauguration of the President.
In it,
Nebbia
is seen
sitting in the presidential chair
.
Jorge Argüello (current US ambassador), Nebbia, Fernández and Alejandro Dolina, in 1999. Photo Courtesy
In an appearance in the middle of the campaign, the president performed on TV the song "Song for the Innocents", from Rosario.
In that interview with Télam, Nebbia said that Alberto F. "plays very well" the guitar.
He added that the president's devotion to his own work makes him "ashamed": "He is very fanatic."
So present is the President to his favorite singer that
he quotes him confusingly
and to generate a barrage of criticism.
DS
