Foreigner who used racist insult can’t re-enter: Mexico

Caught on video calling a woman in Mexico City a 'horrible Indian'

Mexico City: Mexico said on Friday it has banned a foreign woman from re-entering the country after she was caught on video calling a woman in Mexico City a “horrible Indian.”

The foreign woman was apparently angry at one of her Mexican neighbours over tree-trimming on their street, and at one point calls her the Spanish phrase “india horrible,” an insulting way to refer to Indigenous or dark-skinned people.

The National Migration Institute said the foreigner caught a flight out of Mexico after the incident earlier this week and that she would be prohibited from returning.

The agency did not identify the woman or her nationality, but she is heard on the video speaking with a strong Argentine accent and after the incident the Argentine Embassy posted a statement condemning the incident.

The embassy wrote on its Facebook page, “Regarding the events made public yesterday involving people who are apparently Argentine citizens, the country’s Embassy in Mexico rejects and condemns any expression of discrimination and/or gender violence.” It was unclear why ethnicity came up at all.

The incident took place in Mexico City’s upscale Hipódromo-Condesa neighborhood, where few Indigenous people can afford to live. Most Mexicans have some Indigenous ancestry and are often darker-skinned than Argentines, whose ancestors were often immigrants from Europe.

There have been complaints in the past among Mexicans that lighter-skinned Argentines are arrogant or get preferential treatment in Mexico.