Fernando Romero Nuñez Argentine President Javier Milei fired Sports Undersecretariat Julio Garro on Wednesday, the latest in the aftermath of a viral video showing the men’s national football team singing a racist chant. Garro had urged team captain Lionel Messi to apologize for the incident, for which the French Football Federation is suing its Argentine counterpart.
“No government can tell the World Cup and two-time Copa América winning national team or any other citizen what to say, think or do. For this reason, Julio Garro is no longer the Sports Undersecretariat,” said the announcement on the President’s Office X account confirming the dismissal.
Earlier that day, Garro told radio station Urbana Play that Albiceleste captain Lionel Messi should “offer the appropriate apologies” as the incident “leaves Argentina looking bad as a country.”
On Tuesday, a clip went viral of Argentina midfielder Enzo Fernández’s live stream of the team’s bus celebrations following their 2024 Copa América win. Fernández and other players can be heard singing a chant which mocks French players for their African heritage. Fernández later apologized via Instagram, admitting there’s “no excuse for these words” and that he stands “against discrimination in all forms.”
“Football resonates deeply, but racism isn’t just on the football pitch,” said Federico Pita, founder of the African Diaspora in Argentina (DIAFAR for its Spanish initials) and Afro-Argentine anti-racist activist. “It’s a cultural and political context that isn’t condemned politically.”
He added Garro should’ve been the first to apologize, for many of the government’s actions. “The player already apologized, but if there are any victims from racism in Argentina, it’s the racialized peoples in the country,” he said. “We have to dialogue with them and the invitation goes out to Messi, Tapia and everyone else. The LLA government needs to be quiet, reopen the INADI and make it a ministry.”
The INADI, the national institute against discrimination and racism, was shut down in February with Presidential Spokesperson Manuel Adorni describing it as “good for nothing.”
An Interior Ministry spokesperson told the Herald he understood Garro’s comments were personal, rather than institutional, in nature.
Vice President Victoria Villarruel also weighed in on X, claiming Argentina “never had colonies or second-class citizens” and “never imposed its way of life on anyone”, and that the government wouldn’t tolerate that being done to Argentina, in reference to the French Football Federation’s legal complaint.
She went on to add that “Argentina was built on the sweat and courage of the Indians [sic], the Europeans, the Creoles and the Blacks [sic]” and voiced her support for the national team.
Highlighting the push for the recognition of the Afro-Argentine community by social organizations and the anti-racist movement nationally, sociologist and anti-racist activist Carlos Álvarez Nazareno said the vice president’s comments “left a lot to be desired in that regard.”
“We’re not looking to censor anyone’s voice per se, but in socio-cultural contexts where we’re looking for actions to fight and stop racism,” Nazareno told the Herald.
