The controversy involving Senator Celeste Amarilla and football star Kylian Mbappé dominated debates in the Chamber of Senators on Wednesday, revealing deep political divisions and culminating in an unusual incident: the blocking of the official broadcast on YouTube due to an alleged copyright claim by FIFA.
During a session marked by heated speeches, senators debated a statement repudiating what were considered racist remarks by the liberal lawmaker against the captain of the French national team. While some, like Colorado Party Senator Basilio "Bachi" Núñez, argued that Congress should give a "red card" to racism, others sought to shift the focus to the player's conduct.
Senator Juan Carlos "Nano" Galaverna, while paying tribute to the Paraguayan national team, called Mbappé "conceited" and made insinuations about the athlete's personal life. Meanwhile, Senator Yolanda Paredes, of the National Crusade Party, demanded that Paraguay's Ministry of Foreign Affairs speak out against what she called the use of "political power" by the French player to pressure Paraguay.
In a surprising defense, pro-government Senator Lilian Samaniego stated that Celeste Amarilla was "the only" person to publicly defend the Paraguayan players following Mbappé's comments, although she criticized the "crude" way her colleague had expressed herself. On the other hand, Senator Esperanza Martínez accused the Colorado Party bloc of "double standards," using nationalist rhetoric to mask a legislative agenda that, she claimed, harms the population.
Amid the debate, the broadcast of images from the Paraguay vs. France match by the Senate's television channel resulted in the automatic blocking of the live stream on YouTube. The platform displayed the message "Blocked due to content claimed by FIFA." The Senate's General Directorate of Communication issued a statement confirming the block was an automated copyright procedure and that they are working to restore the video, assuring that official programming continues normally on other platforms.
Sociologist José Fernando Duarte, in an analysis published by the newspaper Hoy, argued that the entire discursive crisis ultimately benefited Celeste Amarilla politically. For him, by managing to get a world celebrity like Mbappé to engage in a polemic with her, the senator effectively became "the most relevant figure the opposition has" in a scenario he describes as one of irrelevance and tedium.