The Paraguayan senator Celeste Amarilla has maintained this Tuesday that her racist insults against the French footballer Kylian Mbappé, after the round of 16 match of the World Cup between France and Paraguay, were aimed at defending Paraguayan players. Furthermore, she has lashed out at the country's president, Santiago Peña, whom she accuses of having yielded, according to her version, to the pressures of the French president, Emmanuel Macron.
"I did this for Paraguay. Rightly or wrongly, I did this for Paraguay," the parliamentarian told the media, justifying her racist expressions in the supposed words that, in her opinion, Mbappé directed at the South American team's footballers, whom she has labeled as "out of line."
"I didn't see anyone defend the Paraguayans," she reproached, reiterating that during the match the French players had also allegedly uttered insults against the members of the Paraguayan national team in a round of 16 match marked by tension.
The senator also held the Paraguayan head of state responsible for "falling into the trap," emphasizing that it was Emmanuel Macron who, at the request of FIFA president Gianni Infantino, asked Peña to intervene after the controversy generated by her messages.
Although she admitted the racist nature of her publications, which she described as a "blunder," the opposition member framed her words in the context of her generation, "in which calling someone 'fucking nigger' was usual."
Along these lines, she described the messages she received in response from the French forward as "discriminatory," at which point she assured that she felt "aggrieved" and with "sufficient reason" to "file a lawsuit against him." "What the hell does Mbappe know about me, he doesn't even know where Paraguay is," she added.
Before these statements, Amarilla had explained on social media that she wrote the message when her "blood was 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 pointed out, while acknowledging that she "understands" that Mbappé may have been "offended" by her expressions, which she described as "humiliating."
In that same publication, she hinted that she could "initiate legal action for gender-based violence," making it clear that she does not intend to tolerate the "violence" of the French player. "You don't know me, you have no idea who I am, and you have no right to say I am a despicable woman, unworthy of the position I hold," she snapped.
Meanwhile, the Paris Prosecutor's Office announced this Tuesday the opening of an investigation for public insults and incitement to hatred or violence following the racist statements of the Paraguayan senator, after the complaint filed by the French Football Federation (FFF).