Mauricio Macri contacted Jair Bolsonaro to 'apologize' for Alberto Fernández's phrase

06/10/2021 12:22 PM

• Clarín.com

• Politics

Updated 06/10/2021 2:59 PM

Mauricio Macri

 communicated

 this Thursday morning to the president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro

, to "apologize"

for the phrase of Alberto Fernández

, who on Wednesday said that

"the Brazilians came out of the jungle"

, which generated strong criticism from the neighboring country.

As confirmed by sources close to Macri, the former president

sent a WhatsApp message

to his former colleague, who had ironic and questioned Fernández for his controversial definition.

"Macri apologized to him on behalf of the vast majority of Argentines.

Bolsonaro told him that what happened does not change the enormous respect he has for the Argentine people

," they extended to

Clarín

close to the former president.

Hours later, Macri published a tweet without text but with a single photo of the flags of Brazil, Mexico and Argentina, a whole message in the midst of the controversy. 

pic.twitter.com/6WkAfXKQRi

- Mauricio Macri (@mauriciomacri) June 10, 2021

During his tenure as president,

Macri maintained a good relationship with Bolsonaro, 

but later the link between Argentina and Brazil changed when Fernández assumed power.

There were crosses between the two leaders and even though the countries are trading partners, so far the leaders have not had a formal meeting.

Fernández's controversial phrase was pronounced on Wednesday in one of the meetings he had with Pedro Sánchez, the Spanish president, who is visiting the country.

The President made a striking mistake in a press conference with Sánchez, quoting the Mexican poet Octavio Paz, when in fact he was mentioning a verse from a Litto Nebbia song.

"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.

The phrase, charged with controversy because immigration occurred not only to Argentina, but to all of America, including Mexico and Brazil, was wrongly awarded by the President.

That verse is part of the lyrics of the song

"We arrived from the boats" by the Argentine rocker, friend of the President,

who also declared himself a fan of his work.

It is not, then, a quote from the Mexican poet and essayist, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature.

This Thursday, the President once again defended his controversial phrase and even quoted Nebbia and a phrase from one of his songs.

"'I wanted it to be a phrase (Zamba) that speaks of us. And of this land that we love (Latin America). And it is a mixture of all'. Litto Nebbia synthesizes the real meaning of my words better than I do," Fernández tweeted.