No Apologies from Uruguay President after Mic Incident
Uruguay's President Jose Mujica had no apologies Friday after disparaging remarks aimed at Argentine counterpart Cristina Kirchner and her late husband were picked up by an open microphone.
In a radio presentation, Mujica talked about the close links between the two countries, and emphasized that no event or person "can uproot our common history."
Mujica made no reference to his remarks broadcast live Thursday at the start of a news conference while he was speaking privately with another official.
"This old hag is worse than the one-eyed guy," Mujica was caught saying, without realizing that the microphones were on.
It was a clear reference to Kirchner and her late husband, former president Nestor Kirchner, who had a lazy eye and was nicknamed "El Tuerto" (the one-eyed guy).
"'El Tuerto' was more of a politician, this one is stubborn," Mujica added.
He also had a catty comment on Kirchner's gift to Pope Francis: "To an Argentine pope, who has lived for 77 years, are you going to explain to him what... mate and a flask are?"
The reference was to Kirchner's gift a gourd to drink mate, the herbal infusion popular in the Argentina and Uruguay, to the newly elected pope.
Word of Mujica's slip-up shut down the website of Uruguay's El Observador newspaper, which recorded historic traffic, according to the outlet's digital content manager. The audio had also been broadcast live on the president's official website.
One hour after his remarks Mujica told the online edition of another newspaper, La Republica, that he had been talking about Lula and Brazil, and that he had not spoken "publicly" about Argentina.
"I'm not going to play ball with them or go around the world clarifying anything. They can invent all the nonsense that they want," Mujica snapped.
The comments however went viral on social media.
Argentine Foreign Minister Hector Timerman on Thursday slammed the remarks as "unacceptable" and "denigrating," adding that they offended the memory of the deceased.
An official protest was delivered in the form of a note to Uruguay's ambassador to Argentina, Guillermo Pomi.
Nestor Kirchner was Argentina's president from 2003 to 2007. His wife Cristina succeeded him and won re-election in 2011. Nestor Kirchner was a key adviser to his wife up to his sudden death of a heart attack in 2010.
Mujica, 77, is a former guerilla who took office in 2010.
Source: Agence France Presse
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