The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Pablo Quirno, stated that the national government accompanied the case of lawyer Agostina Páez in Brazil from the very beginning and rejected that the diplomatic intervention occurred only at the final stage. Quirno stated: “We have been following the case since day one and coordinating the actions required for Agostina’s defense.” Along the same lines, he added: “The fact that diplomatic efforts were not made public beforehand is not an indication that the government was not working on the case.” Quirno's statements came in response to a post claiming that the official intervention occurred at the end of the process and highlighting the possibility of Páez returning to Argentina as a “good closure.” The case gained public relevance in recent weeks after the Argentine lawyer was charged in Brazil for an episode of “racial insult” that occurred in Rio de Janeiro, which led to a judicial process that is in a key stage following this Tuesday's hearing. According to the Argentine News Agency, the judicial situation advanced in parallel with diplomatic efforts that allowed Páez's return to the country to be set in motion, in a context of strong media repercussion and debate on social networks. Thus, Quirno's statement introduces a counterpoint regarding the government's role in following the case, at a time when the lawyer's situation continues to generate attention both in Argentina and in Brazil.
