\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t Agostina P\u00e1ez, an Argentine tourist currently facing a racism charge in Brazil, gave her version of events following her return to Argentina last week.\u00a0<\/p>\n
P\u00e1ez, a 29-year-old lawyer, had been under house arrest in Brazil since mid-January for making racist gestures at a group of men, a scene which was caught on video.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She returned to her home province of Santiago del Estero on Thursday after paying nearly US$19,000 in bail.<\/p>\n
According to P\u00e1ez, it all started when one of the men made obscene gestures at her over an incorrectly charged bill at a bar where she had gone with her friends while on vacation.<\/p>\n
\u201cI saw them grab their genitals,\u201d she explained during an interview with streaming channel Olga on Monday. \u201cI didn\u2019t realize the gravity of my gesture. It wasn\u2019t because of the color of their skin. I saw someone grab their genitals, and that was the response that came to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
P\u00e1ez said that when she received a notice to report to the police station about an accusation of using racial slurs, she thought it was fake.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought it was a hoax. When I arrived, they told me I couldn\u2019t leave [Brazil], that I had to wear an electronic ankle monitor, and they showed me the video,\u201d she said, adding it was at that point when she broke down.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t know what to do. It was total ignorance on my part regarding racism; later, I began researching Brazil\u2019s historical context.\u201d<\/p>\n
Further problems for P\u00e1ez Although she is back home, things are far from resolved for P\u00e1ez.<\/p>\n
Brazilian prosecutors had originally requested a two-year prison sentence, which could be replaced with community service to be carried out in Argentina, as well as a fine of around US$50,000 for each of the three victims.\u00a0<\/p>\n
However, a recent viral video of Mariano, her father, imitating his daughter\u2019s gestures at a party could aggravate her situation. According to Argentine outlet La Naci\u00f3n, the plaintiffs are now attempting to use the images to raise compensation to almost $150,000 each.<\/p>\n
In the video, Mariano P\u00e1ez can be heard saying he\u2019s \u201ca businessman, a millionaire, a loan shark, and a drug dealer.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to La Naci\u00f3n, the plaintiffs intend to use it as evidence of the P\u00e1ez family\u2019s solvent financial situation, focusing on the father, who paid the bail.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wanted to die, I didn\u2019t know what to do,\u201d said Agostina P\u00e1ez about the moment she learned about her father\u2019s leaked video. \u201cI thought, \u2018I can\u2019t believe I just arrived, I\u2019m seeing my friends, and my father goes and does this, knowing how hard it all was for me, how much harm it can do to my case.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
She went on to add that she felt \u201cvery angry and very ashamed\u201d and that while her father accompanied her through her situation, \u201che often has manners [she] doesn\u2019t share.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Agostina P\u00e1ez, an Argentine tourist currently facing a racism charge in Brazil, gave her version of events following her return to Argentina last week.\u00a0 P\u00e1ez, a 29-year-old lawyer, had been under house arrest in Brazil since mid-January for making racist gestures at a group of men, a scene which was caught on video.\u00a0 She returned […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":50422,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9288,9320,151],"tags":[9287,12341,135],"class_list":["post-50421","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-agostina-paez","category-racism","category-society","tag-agostina-paez","tag-racism","tag-society"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50421","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50421"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50421\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50422"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}