MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Incident with Poland: Argentine official refers to Poles as “bums” and “stinking feet”

Ambassador Zazasnki sent a letter to Guillermo Moreno asking for clarifications

Argentina has picked a diplomatic incident with Poland following on alleged coarse expressions from a top Argentine official towards members of the local Polish community in the north of the country, most of them farmers involved in growing ‘yerba mate’ the popular infusion tea of the region.

Polish Ambassador in Buenos Aires Jacek Zazanski addressed a letter to Domestic Trade Secretary Guillermo Moreno asking for explanations regarding expressions which are ‘insulting for the Polish people’, and which allegedly were said during a meeting with yerba mate industrialists in the north east province of Misiones.

According to Raul Kosinski head of the Misiones Agrarian Federation yerba mate farmers held a meeting with Moreno who referred to these “bum Poles” and “stinking feet Poles” besides calling Misiones governor Maurice Closs a “fatty faggot”.

“This gentleman should, and if he is slightly intelligent and because of the post he holds, retract from those expressions and admit they were said in a moment of fury and without thinking what he was doing, that’s the minimum we can expect from him towards the farmers of Misiones”, said Kosinski.

Ambassador Zazanski in the letter said he felt deeply hurt by these expressions and the fact they belong to an official from the Argentine government.

“Both for my people and for the Argentines of Polish descent, it is a pride to belong to this nation and under no circumstances could we accept the use of such derogatory language” said the ambassador.

“I trust these references were erroneously published by the media”, added Ambassador Zazanski who insisted on his surprise” because “it was the verbal expression from a (Argentine) government official”.

Meanwhile Moreno’s office released a communiqué through the Argentine government news agency Telam denying claims from the farmers. “During the year 2012, Secretary Moreno did not meet any of the members of the associations which represent yerba mater farmers or industrialists”.

However the statement does not deny the alleged slurs referred to the Polish community nor to the phrase where he apparently described Misiones governor as a “fatty faggot”.

Although most participants or witnesses are trying to downplay the whole incident not to worsen the situation it was revealed that in 2011 when Moreno met with yerba mate farmers, one of the main industries of the province of Misiones, he also gave them a rough time.

“We met him last September and talking about Governor Closs Moreno said ‘tell that fatso boy to come walking to Buenos Aires so he can slim a bit”, recalls Carlos Ortt, head of Argentina’ Yerba Mate National Institute and a member of the Misiones Farmers association board.

“Those who were present or witnessed the situation prefer not to talk to calm things” admitted Kosinski.
Yerba mate is an infusion tea widely drank in Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and south of Brazil taken over from the indigenous population and which is a thriving industry in provinces such as Misiones.