The Venezuelan singer Carlos Baute publicly apologized this Monday through a video on his X account, following the controversy sparked by joining the "Get out, monkey!" chant directed at Delcy Rodríguez during the massive gathering last Saturday at the Puerta del Sol in Madrid.
The event, held on April 18 in support of the opposition leader María Corina Machado, Nobel Peace Prize 2025, gathered up to 200,000 Venezuelans from the diaspora and served as the occasion where the President of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, presented Machado with the Gold Medal of the region.
In his video, Baute acknowledged that "while I was singing and interacting with the audience, thousands and thousands of people began chanting, which I joined in on. I got carried away by the emotion of that chant without measuring it. There are many years of repression, frustration, and lack of freedom."
The artist categorically rejected the accusations of racism: "I am not a racist person. I come from a Venezuelan family, I grew up within the folklore of unity, I studied Venezuelan folklore, and I have always defended those values and fought against injustices. I am not racist, nor do I believe in insults as a means."
In his post written on X, Baute was more specific about the extent of his apologies: "I reiterate my apologies for the manner, but not for my values or what I represent, and certainly not for what I think," and he reaffirmed his commitment to "a free, democratic, and prosperous Venezuela".
The institutional reaction was immediate. The Embassy of Venezuela in Spain, in a statement signed on April 19 by Ambassador Gladys Gutiérrez Alvarado, described the expressions as "hate speech" and stated that calling a woman 'monkey' constitutes an act of dehumanization incompatible with the principles of international human rights law.
The text added that "such words do not represent the Venezuelan people or their culture, which is characterized by respect, solidarity, and human dignity," and apologized to the Spanish people.
In Spain, the parties Más Madrid and Podemos demanded that Ayuso condemn the chants. The spokesperson for Más Madrid, Manuela Bergerot, described them as intolerable at an official event of the Community of Madrid and pointed out that "they degrade racialized individuals and any democrat."
The journalist Antonio García Ferreras described them on La Sexta as absolutely unacceptable, racist, and xenophobic. Neither Ayuso nor Machado issued a public condemnation of the incident.
The expression "fuera la mona" was called out as racist and misogynistic for referring derogatorily to Rodríguez, an Afro-descendant woman who has been serving as the acting president of Venezuela since January 5, 2026, following the capture of Nicolás Maduro by U.S. forces in the so-called "Operation Absolute Resolution."
Baute closed his video with a reminder to stay focused on what matters: "If anyone felt offended, I regret that and apologize. But, gentlemen, let's not twist the narrative. The most important thing is that we remain focused on what truly matters, which is Venezuela, having elections and the democracy that our country deserves."
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