RIO DE JANEIRO (JTA) — A Mexican congressman reportedly was captured on tape calling the head of the country’s Jewish umbrella organization “a f—ing Jew.”
The slur by Jorge Romero against Salomon Achar, the president of the Jewish Community Central Committee and a human rights activist, was recorded by the Grupo Imagen Multimedia radio news service, The Excelsior newspaper reported late last week.
“Since 2003, our country has a law to prevent and stop discrimination, including anti-Semitism,” the central committee said in a statement, which was distributed by the Israelite Tribune. “It’s unacceptable that in a pluralistic and democratic society, people keep on using demeaning expressions like the one congressman Romero did.”
Romero allegedly made the statement during the confirmation of Achar as an honorary adviser to the Human Rights Commission in Mexico’s Congress, whose session rules Romero’s PAN and other political parties attempted to change at the last minute. The commission’s president, Jimeno Huanosta, confirmed the expletive used to describe Achar, according to the Excelsior.
Romero denies that he used the slur, according to Noticieros Televisa. The National Executive Committee of PAN in a statement reiterated respect for Mexico’s Jewish community and the party’s interest in maintaining good relations.
In 2014, Romero was nicknamed “El Fuhrer” among senior officials at the Benito Juarez province, where he was a delegate, the news portal Libre en el Sur reported. Fuhrer, which means “leader” in German, is most associated with Adolf Hitler.
With a Jewish population of some 50,000, Mexico is Latin America’s third largest Jewish community after Argentina and Brazil.
