Argentina's President Mauricio Macri (4th from left), his wife Juliana Awada (3rd from left) and his daughter Valentina Barbier pay tribute at Rajghat, the memorial for Mahatama Gandhi, in New Delhi on Monday. Macri is on a three-day state visit to India. Photo: AFP

Argentina's president apologized Wednesday after going viral for stating that modern-day Mexicans originate from indigenous peoples, Brazilians "from the jungle" and his own country's inhabitants come from Europe.

"I am a Europeanist. I am someone who believes in Europe," Alberto Fernandez said as he and visiting Spanish leader Pedro Sanchez met with business leaders in Buenos Aires.

Mexican poet Octavio Paz, he claimed, once wrote that "Mexicans came from the Indians, Brazilians from the jungle, but we Argentines came from boats, and they were boats that came from there, from Europe. And that is how we built our society."

Hours later, he apologized on Twitter.

"In the first half of the 20th century we received more than five million immigrants who lived with our native peoples," he said, adding: "We are proud of our diversity."

Fernandez said that he "did not mean to offend anyone" but to anyone who was, "my apologies."

A video of his original statement went viral, drawing numerous reactions in Brazil.

Reading Fernandez's statement, "I began to understand better why after World War II the Nazi war criminals hid in Argentina," Brazilian Senator Ciro Nogueira said on Twitter.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro tweeted a picture of himself wearing a feather headband and surrounded by a group of indigenous people under the headline "JUNGLE!" but with no comment - a picture that led to a series of memes.

Former Mexican president Felipe Calderon wanted to know if the quote really was from Mexican author Paz, a Nobel laureate.

"That could have been said by [Mexican comedian] Cantinflas, or [Argentine comedians] Les Luthiers, but Octavio Paz? I hope he cites the source," Calderon tweeted.

AFP