Is the affair surrounding the video of Enzo Fernandez and some of his Argentinian teammates turning into a diplomatic incident? So far, only the FFF, FIFA, Chelsea and a few players concerned have reacted to the racist song by the Copa América winners. Wesley Fofana, Jules Koundé and Mike Maignan have all taken sides in this affair, while Fernandez has publicly apologized. The Argentinian press has not been kind to his protégés either, assuring that the time of folklore had gone on long enough. This is nothing more and nothing less than racism.
Now it is the Argentine political class that is taking up this affair, and this time the message is radically different. The reason? The speech of Julio Garro, Undersecretary of State for Sports, who demanded an apology from Lionel Messi, who is also absent from the video. “The captain of the national team must apologize for this matter, as must the president of the AFA”he demanded in the columns of the Argentine newspaper, Clarin. It was a bad move for him, as he was immediately fired from the government at the request of Javier Milei, the Argentine president.
Milei provokes the resignation of his undersecretary for sports
” To say that (Lionel) Messi must apologize to some colonizing Europeans for a song that tells the truth is to go totally against Javo’s ideology. “, says the 53-year-old controversial head of state, whose far-right positions are well known, before announcing his decision on his official page. The Presidency reports that no member of the government should comment, think or say what the Argentine national team, world champion and double American champion, or any other citizen, should do. For this reason, Julio Garro is no longer the Undersecretary of Sports of the nation.»
Another voice to be heard is that of Victoria Villarruel, the Argentine vice-president.We have never had colonies or second-class citizens. We have never imposed our way of life on anyone. But we are not going to tolerate them doing that to us either. Argentina was created with the sweat and courage of Indians, Europeans, Creoles and blacks like Remedios del Valle, Sergeant Cabral and Bernardo de Monteagudo. No colonialist country will intimidate us for a soccer song or for telling the truth. Stop feigning indignation, hypocrites. Enzo, I am with you” she said on her X account. The affair is not about to end there.
