Recently, it was revealed that three individuals involved in hate crimes against Vinicius Jr. during the match against Valencia at Mestalla were sentenced to eight months in prison for using racist insults to attack and offend the Brazilian star on the field.
This sentence was celebrated and welcomed with hope by fighters and activists against racism. However, it was criticized by many for being considered lenient. In the media, this was seen as a significant achievement of the Spanish system.
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However, Globo Esporte reports, through documents belonging to the Brazilian ambassador in Spain, that this was a joint achievement thanks to the pressures of the Brazilian government.
Thanks to Brazilian pressures, the criminal process against racist insults towards Vinicius was initiated
With documents obtained through the Access to Information Law, Globo Esporte reveals the work of the Brazilian ambassador in Spain, Orlando Leite Ribeiro, who fought for months to be heard by LaLiga executives and the Spanish government to punish the perpetrators of these hate crimes against athletes.
🚨 Documentos mostram como Brasil pressionou Espanha a punir racismo contra Vini Jr.➡️ https://t.co/JEN9ofNa64
📷Ricardo Nogueira
— ge (@geglobo) June 12, 2024
Racially attacked for several years, the case of Vinicius caught the attention of Leite Ribeiro after the incident at Mestalla. The ambassador met with Florentino Pérez, president of Real Madrid; Javier Tebas, president of LaLiga; and the then president of the RFEF, Luis Rubiales.
In conversations with the heads of Spanish football, Leite Ribeiro noticed a certain lack of concern from these high-ranking officials, who blamed each other for the issue.
For Florentino, the blame was on the RFEF and the referees. Tebas, on the other hand, placed the responsibility on the Spanish Prosecutor’s Office, while Rubiales focused on the problems of the RFEF.
In a letter, Leite Ribeiro expressed his concern:
“We must recognize that my three interlocutors agree that the episodes should not have occurred in any context. (…) However, it is also true that neither LaLiga, the Federation, nor Real Madrid seem to clearly assume any responsibility for what happened.”
This situation led the ambassador to present a pessimistic diagnosis that would ultimately come true:
“Unfortunately, due to the current political earthquake and the proximity of the end of the championship, the near disappearance of the issue in the Spanish media does not seem to indicate a quick resolution of the matter.”
This led Orlando Leite Ribeiro to meet with the Attorney General, Álvaro García Ortiz, who “felt obliged to give an explanation” and promised Leite Ribeiro that he would take action. More meetings followed, including one with the president of the Higher Council of Sports, José Manuel Franco.
In that last meeting, Leite Ribeiro would present another opinion that would not be unreasonable in the near future:
“It is likely that, once the competitions resume next season, episodes like those of Vini Jr. will be repeated in Spanish stadiums.” Said and done. During 2024, cases of racism against Vinicius and more players did not stop, and it was not until mid-this year that the first sentence for a racial hate crime was obtained in this country.
The work of Orlando Leite Ribeiro did not stop in 2024, and after constant meetings with the Spanish regulatory bodies, the Brazilian embassy stated the following:
“The embassy must express Brazil’s expectation that Spain cooperates so that the regulations in force in European championships provide for criminal and sports sanctions to curb such acts, which tarnish the fraternal spirit of sport and human dignity. It also urged the Spanish government to use the existing legal framework to punish and curb racism in football.”
These pressures had an effect. Although racism is still not illegal in Spain, the sentence against the three perpetrators of racist insults against Vinicius Jr. served to set a precedent in this country.
