MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Father of Argentine lawyer detained for racism in Brazil repeats same gestures at bar

In a second recording from the same night, he is heard claiming that he personally paid the $18,000 bail imposed by the Brazilian court so his daughter could return to Argentina

Mariano Páez, father of lawyer and influencer Agostina Páez, was filmed imitating monkey gestures at a bar in Santiago del Estero — the same racist gesticulations that led to his daughter's indictment for racial slur in Brazil, where she spent over two months detained in Rio de Janeiro. The incident took place just hours after the young woman's return to her home province.

The footage, recorded by a witness at the Bar Oculto nightclub in the city center and first published by local outlet Info del Estero, shows the transportation businessman laughing and raising his hands to his armpits while mimicking a primate's movements. In a second recording from the same night, he is heard claiming that he personally paid the $18,000 bail imposed by the Brazilian court so his daughter could return to Argentina, and that he received no help from the state. “Disgust. I'm disgusted by the state. I'm a businessman, a millionaire, and a loan shark. And a narco… a narco, privately,” he is heard saying.

[AHORA] A menos de 24 horas de la llegada de Agostina Páez a la Argentina, Mariano Páez, su papá, fue filmado esta madrugada haciendo gestos de mono. https://t.co/JejInLeaKK pic.twitter.com/8aZxMf80ub

— ElCanciller.com (@elcancillercom) April 3, 2026

Mariano Páez, 57, told Argentine broadcaster LN+ that the video had been fabricated using artificial intelligence and that someone demanded five million pesos in exchange for not releasing it. He did, however, confirm that he was at the bar that night and is a regular patron.

Minutes after those statements, his daughter contradicted him. Agostina posted a statement on social media treating the footage as authentic and distancing herself from her father. “What you see is deplorable and I condemn it completely. I take responsibility for my own actions: I acknowledged my mistakes, apologized, and faced the consequences. But I can only answer for my own behavior,” she wrote. “This nightmare never ends,” she added.

Agostina Páez had arrived in Buenos Aires on Wednesday, where she was received at the capital's Aeroparque airport by her father and Security Minister Patricia Bullrich. That same afternoon she flew to Termas de Río Hondo, where she reunited with her family. The lawyer was charged with racial slur in January after a video went viral showing her making monkey gestures toward staff at a bar in Ipanema, Rio de Janeiro. She spent over two months monitored with an electronic ankle bracelet until a Brazilian court granted a habeas corpus petition and authorized her return after the bail was paid.

Her trial remains open. According to Infobae, prosecutors requested the minimum sentence of two years, and both the prosecution and the plaintiff agreed to allow Agostina to carry out community service from Argentina. The presiding judge has yet to ratify the agreement.