The parliamentarian considers that Doña Letizia commits a "certain contempt" for the chosen clothing
MADRID, Nov. 4 (EUROPA PRESS) -
Queen Letizia's trip to Paraguay to learn about the work carried out in the country by the Spanish Cooperation has had an involuntary protagonist, her vest. The criticisms made by a Paraguayan deputy about the outfit have had the effect that the company that manufactures them has increased its sales.
As in other previous trips of this type, the Queen has worn the distinctive red vest of the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID) during all her visits since she landed in Asunción late on Tuesday.
With this, Doña Letizia seeks to express her support for Spanish aid workers and the work they carry out, in this case in Paraguay, one of the main tasks of her visit, in addition to conveying Spain's solidarity with this country.
However, deputy Celeste Amarilla de Boccia, of the Authentic Radical Liberal Party (PLRA), has considered that with her gesture the Queen commits "a certain contempt towards the host", in this case Paraguay.
In an intervention in Parliament that she has shared on social networks, the deputy assures that the "simplicity" of Doña Letizia's outfit made the first lady, Silvana López, hardly recognize her when she received her at the airport and denounces that when she travels to other countries choose much more expensive clothes.
"The mother country," Celeste Amarilla said this Wednesday, after having sent vaccines against COVID-19, "today she is sending us her journalist who became a queen, a girl of extremely humble origins, with whom the Prince fell in love" so that come to "look at poverty in Paraguay to see what more alms to throw at us".
"Perhaps we need her money, but Mrs. Letizia, perhaps we deserved one of the little dresses that you have in your 'closet', not the vest that your guard and secretary used," said the opposition deputy.
Her criticism does not seem to have made a dent among Paraguayans, according to the owner of the company that AECID commissioned to make its red vests in Paraguay, who assures that they are receiving a flood of orders.
"The phone doesn't stop, everyone wants 'the Queen's vest'", Carlos Travieso, owner of Fabricato Uniformes, told the 'ABC Color' newspaper, acknowledging that the controversy has been good for his company.
As he explained, AECID initially ordered 50 vests of different sizes and "later when they liked it they extended the order". Now, the company phone does not stop ringing and orders do not stop arriving. "There are those who ask us for a unit and others want 100, 200," he explains. Each vest has 150,000 guaraníes, just under 19 euros.
From Fabricato Uniformes they claimed on their Twitter that "there are for queens, secretaries, security guards, deputies" and that their cost is "150,000 guaraníes each unit, shipping included, throughout the national territory."
The deputy did not take long to respond, criticizing the cost of a simple vest, which is why the company has offered to send her one for free. "Tomorrow Friday, November 5 at 10:00 AM we will be in front of the National Congress of Paraguay to deliver a vest," they have warned her on Twitter.
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Meanwhile, the Queen has completed her visit during the day in Asunción, after traveling to Encarnación on Wednesday. Her agenda has started at the Bañado Sur Family Care Center, a center dedicated to the prevention, care, and dignity of women and girls who are victims of sexual violence and trafficking, located in one of the Asunción poverty belt territories.
Here, Doña Letizia has had the opportunity, among other things, to visit the nursery area and activity yard and the area for personal development and self-esteem workshops, as reported by Zarzuela.
Women in Conflict Zones, AIETI and Plan International participate in this project. Hundreds of women have been trained for employment and self-employment in addition to being attended to in their social, psychological and legal needs thanks to this center, which has also had the support of the Huelva and Malaga Provincial Councils.
It was then moved to the 'Juan de Salazar' Cultural Center of Spain, in which culture is promoted as a tool for development and which has taken especially into account the effects of the pandemic on the cultural sector and tourism as an engine of the economic reactivation of the country.
The Queen has witnessed the performance of the folk dance group "Alas Abiertas" made up of children and young people with special abilities within the framework of a pioneering project of experimentation and support for marginalized groups in access to artistic expressions. She has also toured an exhibition of handicrafts made by indigenous people and has visited the "Josefina y Julián" museum, which houses an artistic collection from the AECID, and a radio studio.
Subsequently, Doña Letizia has gone to the Entrepreneur Training Center, whose objective is to reduce the barriers that people encounter through training, technical assistance with cutting-edge tools, support and advice for youth-oriented formalization. Here, she has toured the Textile and Clothing Center.
The center operates through an agreement financed by AECID to Plan International Spain for 2.5 million euros with a view to improving access to vocational training and decent employment through an inclusive approach and difference.
Doña Letizia has concluded her visit to Paraguay with a working lunch offered in her honor by the country's president, Mario Abdo Benítez, with whom she had a brief meeting after landing on Tuesday, and the first lady in the Residential Palace.
