Undiplomatic language costs Spanish consul in Washington his job

Enrique Sard¨¢ Valls has been sacked after a post referring to a recent incident when Susana D¨ªaz, the head of the regional government of Andalusia, wore a similar dress to Queen Letizia at an event they both attended.

Sard¨¢ Valls wrote the message in what might be described as cod-Andalusian, pronouncing s as a th sound, as well as inverting r with l.

The comments show a lack of respect toward Andalusia that completely discredit their author Deputy regional premier of Andalusia, Manuel Jim¨¦nez Barrios

¡°Verano t¨®rrido. Hay que ver qu¨¦ ozad¨ªa y mar gusto de la Susi. Mira que ponerse igu¨¢ que Letizia. Como se ve ke no sabe na de protocolo ella tan der pueblo y de izquielda. Nos ha esho quedar fat¨¢ a los andaluse. Dimisi¨®n ya.¡±

The message translates something like: ¡°Torrid summer. What about that Susi¡¯s bad taste and manners. Look what she did, trying to be Letizia¡¯s equal. It¡¯s clear she knows nothing about protocol, what with her being one of the people and a left-winger. She¡¯s left us Andalusians looking terrible. Resignation now.¡±

In the English-speaking world, this might be akin to a member of the Washington elite parodying a US politician from the deep south, or in Britain, a Whitehall mandarin mocking an MP from the West Country.

Sard¨¢ told EL PA?S he thought the decision by the Spanish Foreign Affairs Ministry, the first sacking since Alfonso Dastis took over in November, was ¡°disproportionate,¡± but accepted that it put his boss in a ¡°difficult position.¡±

He claimed the post was a ¡°joke¡± that should be seen in the context of the social networks and freedom of expression and that there was no malice intended, reports Joan Faus from Washington.

In a 2016 interview, Sard¨¢, a Catalan, addressed the issue of independence in his homeland and the linguistic and territorial strains they have produced in Spain: ¡°I have lived in Madrid, and to be constantly reminded that one has a Catalan accent is particularly irritating, and that is without going into the question of calls for boycotts [of Catalan products], petitions, rejection and anti-Catalan sentiments. These hurt the feelings of Catalans and we don¡¯t understand it.¡±

The deputy leader of the regional government of Andalusia, Manuel Jim¨¦nez Barrios, spoke with Foreign Minister Dastis by phone, asking for a ¡°public rectification¡± from the consul. Dastis, who is from Jerez, in Andalusia, said he had no knowledge of the incident, and was ¡°surprised,¡± but distanced himself from the comments, said Jim¨¦nez Barrios, adding that Sard¨¢¡¯s comments were not worthy of a public official.

¡°The comments descend into the worst clich¨¦s about this land and show a lack of respect toward Andalusia and its premier that completely discredit their author,¡± Jim¨¦nez Barrios told Spanish news agency EFE.

Susana D¨ªaz tweeted that she was ¡°proud to be Andalusian,¡± and of her ¡°Andalusian accent¡±

Sard¨¢ is not the only high-profile Spaniard to reveal his prejudices toward Andalusia. In 2011, the then-head of the regional government of Catalonia, Artur Mas, apologized after saying: ¡°In Seville, Malaga, or La Coru?a, they speak Castilian, of course, but some of them cannot be understood.¡±

Two years earlier, Catalan deputy Montserrat Nebrera described the Andalusian accent of the then-public works minister Magdalena ?lvarez as ¡°a joke.¡±

In 2011, Ana Mato, a former government minister under Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, claimed that children in Andalusia ¡°are practically illiterate.¡± She apologized for what she admitted was an ¡°unfortunate¡± comment, only to say three years later that children in Andalusia ¡°sit on the floor in school.¡±

?English version by Nick Lyne.