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The Brazilian ambassador to Spain, Orlando Leite, has requested at least five high-level meetings to discuss the diplomatic conflict generated between Spain and Brazil by the insults to Vinicius last Sunday. According to diplomatic sources, the head of the embassy has requested meetings with the Minister of Equality, Irene Montero; the Attorney General's Office; the president of Real Madrid, Florentino Pérez; the president of LaLiga and the president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation.

At the moment, Javier Tebas seems to be the first to receive him. Next Monday they have arranged a meeting to discuss the racist insults to the Madrid player at the Mestalla stadium and the reaction of LaLiga to the event.

The insults have generated a wave of indignation in Brazil, taking over the front pages of all the newspapers and a lot of minutes of the news on the main television networks. Since early this Monday the Brazilian embassy has been sending cables to the Brazilian government, whose president, Lula da Silva, already reacted this Sunday night with harsh words for what happened.

One possibility that is being raised, according to the same sources, is that the Brazilian Federal Police opens a file for the insults, invoking Brazilian international jurisdiction.

To understand this reaction a little, although it may not have much judicial experience in Spain, we must bear in mind that Brazil has approximately 40% of black or mestizo population, a Ministry of Racial Integration and a very harsh law against racism.

For these same reasons, in Brazil it has been considered that the reaction of the different Spanish institutions has been very lukewarm to the insults. Among those that have sat worst on the other side of the Atlantic, is in that of Valencia itself and a statement from the Higher Sports Council where Vinicius is not even mentioned.

On the opposite side, these same sources explained that the reaction of the President of the Government and the Royal Spanish Football Federation do help to smooth things over. However, this incident is not expected to affect trade or other relations between Spain and Brazil, although it does involve "very serious damage to the image of Spain" in that country.

  • Brazil
  • Vinicius Junior
  • Real Madrid
  • Racism
  • Articles Pablo Herraiz

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