Buenos Aires:
Argentina’s president apologized Wednesday soon after going viral for stating that contemporary-day Mexicans originate from indigenous peoples, Brazilians “from the jungle” and his personal country’s inhabitants come from Europe.
“I am a Europeanist. I am someone who believes in Europe,” Alberto Fernandez stated as he and going to Spanish leader Pedro Sanchez met with small business leaders in Buenos Aires.
Mexican poet Octavio Paz, he claimed, when wrote that “Mexicans came from the Indians, Brazilians from the jungle, but we Argentines came from boats, and they were boats that came from there, from Europe. And that is how we built our society.”
Hours later, he apologized on Twitter.
“In the first half of the 20th century we received more than five million immigrants who lived with our native peoples,” he stated, adding: “We are proud of our diversity.”
Fernandez stated he “did not mean to offend anyone” but to any person who was, “my apologies.”
A video of his original statement went viral, drawing many reactions in Brazil.
Reading Fernandez’s statement, “I began to understand better why after World War II the Nazi war criminals hid in Argentina,” Brazilian Senator Ciro Nogueira stated on Twitter.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro tweeted a image of himself wearing a feather headband and surrounded by a group of indigenous folks below the headline “JUNGLE!” but with no comment — a image that led to a series of memes.
Former Mexican president Felipe Calderon wanted to know if the quote actually was from Mexican author Paz, a Nobel laureate.
“That could have been said by (Mexican comedian) Cantinflas, or (Argentine comedians) Les Luthiers, but Octavio Paz? I hope he cites the source,” Calderon tweeted.
()