Mexico’s National Council to Prevent Discrimination (CONAPRED) officially opened an investigation into the racist remarks made by Pumas captain Darío Verón against Club América’s Darwin Quintero. The announcement was made via the government agency’s Twitter page this afternoon:
According to Quintero, the Paraguayan defender called him a “simio,” or ape, during second-leg semi action at the Estadio Olímpico Universitario yesterday. While Quintero feels capable of letting such nasty offenses slide when they come from fans in the stands (a topic worthy of its own deep analysis), he simply felt that he could not stay silent when it came from someone sharing the pitch with him last night.
So, naturally, things got heated.
There are some disturbing images to accompany his disgraceful words as well…
This isn’t Quintero’s first bout with racism or the use of racist language – in 2010, Felipe Baloy said that Verón and Marco Palacios had made racist remarks against him during a match. Racism is an ugly truth in the world of fútbol, and this particular plot line will definitely fuel the fire ahead of Pumas’ final matchup against Tigres on Thursday.