“Brazilians came out of the Jungle”: Argentine President misquotes Mexican poet, reaps uproar

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – President Alberto Fernández made a striking mistake in a press conference he gave together with the President of the Government of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, on Wednesday, by citing the Mexican poet Octavio Paz, when in reality he was quoting a verse of a song by Litto Nebbia.

“Octavio Paz once wrote that the Mexicans came out of the Indians, the Brazilians came out of the jungle, but we Argentines arrived from the boats. They were ships that came from Europe,” said the Argentine president at the official ceremony held at the Casa Rosada.

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

That verse is part of the lyrics of the song “We came from the ships” of the Argentine rocker, a friend of Fernández, 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.

The phrase that was ascribed to Paz, in reality, says that “Mexicans descended from the Aztecs, Peruvians from the Incas and the Argentines, from ships“.

Litto Nebbia and President Alberto Fernández have had a bond for some decades. At one time both were able to share moments and anecdotes with the guitar and the president even quotes him from time to time in his press conferences.

On April 23, Fernández had used a phrase from Nebbia, that time well applied, during a ceremony in Santa Fe, as part of the Alternative Capitals plan. There, he got emotional when talking about the coronavirus pandemic.

“I’m going to quote Litto Nebbia. After so much sorrow and so much melancholy it is only about living,“ said the President, visibly moved, quoting the song ”It’s just about living.“

In July of last year, in dialogue with Telam, the 72-year-old artist from Rosario said that his link with the president “is over 30 years old and the link was logically the music, which brings you that kind of variety of people and things from destiny “.

The president’s relationship with Nebbia was reflected in the photo that the musician took in the president’s office when he sat in the presidential chair with the complicity of the head of state.

At that time, Nebbia commented that Fernández “also plays very well” the guitar, that they “always find themselves” sharing that. “Now look at the turns of life, he is the President,” he mentioned.

Reactions

On Twitter, the tags “Alberto”, “Octavio Paz”, “national shame” and “Litto Nebbia” became a trend. Opposition deputy Francisco Sánchez, from the Republican Proposal party, said that what Alberto Fernández said is “irreproducible”.

“Poor Octavio Paz. He is not to blame,” wrote Pablo Avelluto, who was Minister of Culture in the Government of Mauricio Macri..

Brazilian media ran Fernandez’s statements on Wednesday and many on social media joked that right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro would enjoy getting back at the left-wing Argentine leader.

Bolsonaro obliged by tweeting a photograph of himself wearing a native head-dress, smiling among a group of indigenous people. The only text in tweet was the word “JUNGLE” in capital letters, flanked by a Brazilian flag emoji.

Eduardo Bolsonaro, a congressman and the Brazilian president’s son, slammed the comments as “racist” and shot a retort back at Argentina over its troubled economy, in recession since 2018. “I say the ship that is sinking is that of Argentina,” he posted on Twitter.

Netizens on YouTube posted replies under a video of the speech, expressing anger or unease.

“Excuse me, Mexican and Brazilian friends, on behalf of all Argentines we feel a lot of embarrassment. You know how much we love you, and your countries and customs,” said one user under the name Barbara Bongiovanni.

Brazilian Guga Chacra, columnist for the newspaper O Globo, described Fernández’s words as a “deplorable racist statement”.

In Mexico, former President Felipe Calderón trolled: “Don’t walk around inventing quotes from Octavio Paz just to live together … “.

“I did not mean to offend anyone, in any case, whoever has felt offended or invisible, I give my apologies,” Fernandez said on Twitter.