Case of racism against Vini Jr becomes a crisis between governments – 05/22/2023 – Sport

The recurrence of cases of racist insults against the Brazilian Vinicius Junior, from Real Madrid, during games for the Spanish Championship, opened a wound in the relationship between the governments of Brazil and Spain. The most recent case, which took place this Sunday (21), took on the air of a diplomatic incident.

One day after President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) called for measures to “not allow fascism and racism to take over football stadiums” around the world, the Minister of Justice, Flávio Dino, said that he is considering resorting to the principle of ” extraterritoriality”, which, according to him, allows triggering a provision of Brazilian law for “exceptional” cases of crimes committed against citizens of the country abroad.

The minister also stated that this is an “extreme” measure and that, for now, it would only be under analysis. Dino reaffirmed his belief that the Spanish authorities will take appropriate action on the case.

“This is an extreme remedy, of course, but it may work, it may be necessary,” said the minister. The Minister of Racial Equality, Anielle Franco, repudiated the crime and also echoed Flávio Dino’s speech in defending the “combat at the root” of the problem.

“As long as I have blood running through my veins, as long as I am at the head of this Racial Equality portfolio, which the federal government, President Lula’s, we will be taking care of the black Brazilian people, whether here or abroad, because there is a thing that plagues our black community is racism. And this evil is a case that we need to fight at the root “, said Anielle.

Earlier, the president of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Chamber of Deputies, Paulo Alexandre Barbosa (PSDB-SP), sent letters to the presidents of the Spanish Chamber, Meritxell Batet, and of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, demanding practical actions to combat the cases. of racism.

Barbosa fears that, in case of inaction by the authorities, those responsible for racist offenses will start attacking other representatives of the Brazilian community in Spain.

As reported by the column Panel, the secretary at the Itamaraty for Europe and the United States, Maria Luísa Escorel, spoke by telephone with the ambassador of Spain, Mar Fernández-Palacio, to convey the message of displeasure of the Brazilian government in the face of the recurrence of the episodes of racism.

In Spain, given the worldwide repercussion that the case had, almost all political parties, in addition to President Pedro Sánchez, came forward to condemn the acts and say that the nation is not racist. Also on Sunday, Vinicius Junior stated that, “today, in Brazil, Spain is known as a country of racists”.

Bodies linked to the Spanish government, such as the Higher Sports Council, the State Secretariat for Sport and the Ministry of Culture and Sport, released a statement repudiating the violence.

The text was endorsed by Pedro Sánchez on Twitter. Neither the statement nor the politician, however, mentioned the attacker by name.

The joint statement also did not present a concrete solution to combat racism, other than promoting, together with the Spanish Federation and LaLiga (the entity that organizes the national tournament), an awareness campaign aimed at fans.

The entities have been heavily criticized, including by Vinicius Junior, for their role in combating acts of racism.

LaLiga president Javier Tebas, however, was not happy with the Brazilian striker’s reaction after he was once again the victim of racial slurs. The top hat, who has been ahead of the entity since 2013, said that the player should “inform himself properly”.

“Before you criticize and insult LaLiga, you need to inform yourself well, Vini Jr. Don’t let yourself be manipulated and make sure you fully understand each other’s skills and the work we’ve been doing,” he said.

As well as chairing the body that organizes the Spanish Championship, Tebas is known for being an outspoken supporter of Spain’s far-right group. In 2019, he stated that he would vote for representatives of Vox, formed by supporters of dictator Francisco Franco, in the next Spanish elections.

Faced with the repercussions, the top hat returned the charge and said it was “unfair” to call LaLiga racist.

The president of the Royal Spanish Federation, Luis Rubiales, took a different path, calling Tebas “irresponsible”.

“We have a problem of behavior, education and racism in our country. The first thing is to recognize it,” he said. “I want to ask you to ignore the irresponsible behavior of the president of LaLiga, who goes on social media to get involved with a player who a few hours earlier had received serious racist insults. Managers are not here to get involved in social media, we are here to solve problems . It wasn’t the time.”

When venting on social networks, Vinicius Junior said that “racism is normal in LaLiga”. On Monday night (22), the player raised the tone and criticized those who issue statements repudiating racism, but do nothing. “How many racists had their names and photos displayed on websites? I answer to make it easier: zero.”

The Brazilian said he is strong and will fight the racists, even if he does so away from Spain. After the statement, the president of Real Madrid, Florentino Perez, had a meeting with the player to support him and say that the club “will go to the last consequences in the face of the disgusting situation of hate”.

In a note, Real also informed that “given the seriousness of the events that occurred, it appealed to the State Attorney General’s Office, without prejudice to its character as a private criminal action”, because it understands that the aggressions suffered by Vinícius constitute a hate crime.