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Obama is El Negrito-Little Black Man---Honduran Foreign Minister
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by 158 | July 9, 2009 at 04:49 pm
1197 views | 36 Recommendations | 11 comments
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There are two translations of his remarks listed below.
I do not know which is more accurate but either way
is inappropriate, or insulting. One report says the foreign
minister was fired. I am going to look for more on this. It is
just one more thing complicate the negotiations to resolve the
problems in Honduras.
, had to apologize to the U.S. Embassy in Tegucigalpa this week after he referred to Obama as "el negrito" (the little black guy).
As Honduras struggles for international legitimacy, its interim top diplomat has been anything but diplomatic, insulting U.S. President Barack Obama, neighboring El Salvador and his own boss.
Enrique Ortez, foreign minister in an internationally shunned new government sworn in after President Manuel Zelaya's June 28 ouster
While criticizing U.S. plans to suspend aid to the Central American nation, the veteran politician and diplomat quipped on Honduran television that Obama didn't even know where the capital Tegucigalpa was located.
Here as a statement
about this from Daily
Kos. They are not always
reliable.
A third quote by Ortez Colindres surfaced yesterday, made during an interview with a Honduran television station and cited in El Tiempo newspaper:
"He negociado con maricones, prostitutas, con ñángaras (izquierdistas), negros, blancos. Ese es mi trabajo, yo estudié eso. No tengo prejuicios raciales, me gusta el negrito del batey que está presidiendo los Estados Unidos."
--------
"I have negotiated with queers, prostitutes, leftists, blacks, whites. This is my job, I studied for it. I am not racially prejudiced. I like the little black sugar plantation worker who is president of the United States."
Meanwhile in the negotiations
on who is to be president of
Honduras the two sides are
far apart.
Even as negotiations over the future of Honduras's government began in Costa Rica, however, hopes were dim for a quick solution. Mr. Zelaya has said the only solution is his return to power, while Roberto Micheletti, the man who replaced him as president, says everything can be discussed except Mr. Zelaya's return as president.
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Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (11)
at 16:58 on July 9th, 2009
Negro is the Spanish word
for black.I do not know if
it has a negative meaning in
Honduras.
at 19:10 on July 9th, 2009
he foreign minister was fired.
Source: laprensa.hn
at 19:13 on July 9th, 2009
[q url=" http://www.laprensa.hn/Ediciones/2009/07/09/Noticias/Roberto-Flores-Bermudez-nuevo-canciller"] President Roberto Micheletti appointed yesterday to the ambassador Robert Bermúdez Flowers like new minister of Foreigh Relations, replacing Enrique Ortez Colindres. According to spread radial information from Presidential House, Ortez Colindres will evolve now like minister of Interior and Justicia. The exit of Ortez Colindres of the Honduran Chancellery occurred a day after the diplomatic veteran apologized to the president of the United States, Barack Obama, by spilled racist expressions against the governor of that country. The attitude of Ortez Colindres was criticized and the condemned by the American embassy in Honduras, whose holder Hugo Llorens said that the commentaries are disrespectful and insults. [/q
at 19:55 on July 9th, 2009
Negrito is not an offensive term in spanish. Most of Spanish-speakers use "negrito" whe referring to black people.
Now, the context of the comment is not the best either, even though he does says he like Obama... Weird!
at 18:59 on July 11th, 2009
"Negrito" can be used in MANY different ways. Context is everything. It is common in Honduras and I agree, often not in a derogatory sense: in fact I have heard black Hondurans say that racism in Honduras is mild or even nonexistent, and that they really discovered racism when they came to the U.S. However, in this context, if you put together the choice of words, the dismissive gestures, tone of voice and body language, and the dismal educational level displayed by this "indignatary's" speech patterns, you have a baldfaced 1950's-style lowlife Honduran bigot unmasked before you. A Minister of Foreign Relations who has obviously been living in a cave for the last 50 years? Symptomatic of a problem that is not political, but cultural in nature. He cannot hide his racism, he cannot even measure his tongue and seems to have never faced a camera before. There goes the credibility for a "Constitution-defending" government. My wife is an extremely intelligent, cultured, accomplished black woman from Honduras and she understands this context and if you call her "negrita" you're on your own. By the way, a literal translation does fine in this case. Although I love some of the words people have pulled out ("pickanninny perhaps being the all-time best for sheer musical value), they are overkill and unnecessary. A U.S. audience, in fact a global English-speaking audience, will understand perfectly the undercurrents present in "little black man" or "little black boy" with a minimum effort on the translator's behalf.
at 20:15 on July 9th, 2009
Thanks for this information.
That puts it into context.
at 00:43 on July 10th, 2009
interesting article, thanks for taking the time to sharing nice post with us.
at 14:10 on July 10th, 2009
thanks for reading
at 18:36 on July 11th, 2009
egro es racial en cuanto a definicion de procedencia racial (Africa) de los esclavos traidos a latino america. Sin embargo, el uso de la palabra negro tiene dos connotaciones; una, la de persona de ancestros africanos (esclavitud) ne nuestros paises; la otra connotacion es racista, utilizada por personas de la clase y cultura dominantepara definir a personas de raza negra.
En el caso de este canciller, sus primeros comentarios no se traducen como "little black man" sino como "pikinini", la cual es un termino derrogatorio en el idioma Ingles. El segundo comentario de este 'canciller', no es "little black man from the sugar plantation" sino mas bien "plantation pikinini", nuevamente un termino sumamente racista y derrogatorio.
the term Negro is to define the Black race in Spanish. it is used within the black latin community to refer to their African heritage. It is also used as a derrogatory term used by maintream society and the dominant class to define lower class, black latins, just as Indian is used this way. The way this politician used the term was in ahighly racial tone and racist connotation; the term he used was "pikinini" and "plantation pikinini" in the last interview.
marci
at 19:18 on July 11th, 2009
Gracias por su palabras.
at 20:03 on July 14th, 2009
Irrespective of the cultural roots of the word, what is the point in referring to people based on color, creed, sex or religion. We should not need to reference body language or local cultural context to understand what is ultimately targeted at a global audience.
Local politicians everywhere, who dream of being the king of their very own swamp, should pay attention - PR101 is now in session.
- travel for one year over-seas and meet and live with the local people and in your context filter out what universally resonates with people
- spend some money for press training; while you are at it throw in for some diversity training as well
- pick up a deck of cards, learn to play poker and realize that sometimes when you absolutely want to say something the best thing you can do is say nothing
-stay focused on the issue, avoid all personalization, it might win you a few laughs but for the short time people are listening they want content and value, if they wanted a funny man they would go to Toronto