The Senate of Paraguay has given the green light to an institutional declaration in which the racist insults launched by senator Celeste Amarilla against the French forward Kylian Mbappé are censured, after a debate in which the parliamentarian herself repeated her offenses towards the player, whom she even described as "son of a bitch".
The plenary session has backed a text that "rejects the discriminatory and racist expressions of senator Celeste Amarilla against the player of the French national team", once several amendments were introduced to the initiative registered by a group of senators to condemn Amarilla's conduct after Paraguay's elimination in the Football World Cup.
One of the promoters of the document, senator Dionisio Amarilla, has underlined the need to establish an official stance against the manifestations of his colleague. She, for her part, has insisted that she never asked for institutional support and that she assumes her words in the first person. "I take responsibility as a good liberal and democrat for what I said. The consequences will be for me, for no one else but me," she indicated.
During her speech, the senator stated that she does not accept that the legacy of France be "reduced" to Mbappé. "France is Rousseau, Descartes, Montesquieu, Victor Hugo, Simone de Beauvoir, the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. I refuse to reduce all of that enormous France and that enormous cultural, artistic, and democratic legacy to Mbappé," she pointed out, according to the Paraguayan newspaper 'ABC'.
Even so, she has maintained her reproaches to the footballer for his behavior in the match, particularly for refusing to shake hands with the Paraguayan goalkeeper at the end of the round of 16 clash, which France won 1-0 thanks to a penalty converted by Mbappé in the second half.
"When Orlando Gill, a child who was surely stepping on a World Cup for the first time, Europe for the first time, was playing in front of the world and he extends his hand with all the humility of a Paraguayan and this son of a bitch denies him his hand and shouts in his face, that is not French, a Frenchman would never have done that," she remarked.
The parliamentarian also assured that she is "deconstructing" an "incorrect Celeste". "I am deconstructing that pattern that they taught me and that today, in the light of modernity, I almost detest," she stated, while explaining that she comes "from an era where saying 'nigger' was okay, 'fat bastard' was okay." "It was an intolerant era," she admitted.
"I am trying to adapt to this world because my world, in which I was raised, made us tough, made us strong, made us resilient," pointed out Amarilla, who despite this once again attacked the striker. "To the French people who are watching me, if I had been Mbappé, I would already be at the psychologist's today," she concluded.
Possible responses from the Paraguayan Congress
In this scenario, the president of the Senate, Basilio Núñez, made it clear that he distances himself from Amarilla's expressions and recalled that he already made it public on his social media. "I do not agree with what Senator Celeste said. That is why I spoke out on social media, as president of Congress, strongly rejecting those racist messages," he stated.
Núñez recalled that Paraguay is part of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, incorporated into its legislation, and emphasized that Amarilla's expressions violate the commitments assumed by Asunción, according to a statement released by the Senate itself.
In this regard, he announced that the upper house could study possible legislative measures related to the case. "For me, and I say this in a personal capacity, the publications of my colleague senator are wrong and do not represent what the majority of Paraguayans think," he stated during the session, in which a declaration of "homage" to the Paraguayan national football team was also approved.
Said pronouncement, adopted unanimously, "pays homage and recognizes the extraordinary campaign and performance of the players, technical staff, and directors of the Paraguayan National Football Team for their outstanding participation in the FIFA World Cup Mexico-United States-Canada 2026, bringing honor to the Paraguayan Nation."
Blocking of the broadcast on YouTube
The session was also marked by the interruption of its broadcast on YouTube due to "a copyright claim attributed to FIFA, according to the notice issued by the platform itself," as reported by the Senate.
"Preliminarily, the situation would be related to the automatic detection of audiovisual content protected by copyright, within the framework of the parliamentary debate held during the session of the date, in which references were made to the Football World Cup and audiovisual fragments linked to that event were exhibited," it detailed.
"It is clarified that this type of blocking constitutes an automated procedure that YouTube applies when it identifies protected third-party content and, in principle, does not imply a sanction to the institutional channel of the Chamber of Senators," the institution specified, which is reviewing the notification to "adopt the corresponding measures to restore the availability of the recording."
Finally, it reiterated that "the programming of Senado TV and the broadcasts planned in the legislative agenda will continue to be developed normally through the institutional platforms, while the technical management related to this incident continues."
The origin of the controversy
The controversy erupted when Amarilla wrote on social media, after Paraguay's defeat against France, that the striker "is a brute who didn't even learn to write" and that "instead of his mother's milk, he sucked coconuts." "The most cultured thing he has ever heard in his life are chimpanzees," she added.
Mbappé responded by calling the senator "a despicable woman" and "unworthy of her position." "You do not represent Paraguay. Because of your ignorance and your blatant racism, the world has already forgotten the historical trajectory and commitment of your players during this World Cup to make way for an incompetent woman who projects the worst possible image of her country," he stated.
The parliamentarian replied with a letter on social media in which she justified her message, alleging that she had "blood boiling." "A while later I regretted having mistreated you with the same insults I receive, because they also despise me for being dark-skinned and Latina," she wrote, although she admitted that she "understands" that Mbappé was "upset" by "humiliating" expressions.
However, she maintained that she does not intend to allow the player's "violence" in response. "You don't know me, you have no idea who I am, and you have no right to say that I am a despicable woman, unworthy of the position I hold," she replied, demanding that the footballer apologize and even warning of the possibility of "initiating legal actions for gender violence."
Meanwhile, the Paris Prosecutor's Office has opened proceedings for public insults and incitement to hatred or violence following Amarilla's demonstrations, as confirmed by judicial sources to Europa Press, after the complaint filed by the French Football Federation (FFF) for the senator's attacks after the match.