Guatemalan Olympic icon accuses DJ of racist taunt

Historymaking Olympic athlete Erick Barrondo, an indigenous Guatemalan, spoke out against racism Wednesday after a radio DJ posted a picture of him on Twitter alongside comments that he deemed offensive. The DJ, Julio Reyes, tweeted an image of the London 2012 silver medalist with the question: "Would you like peanuts, cashews or beans?" -- an apparent reference to the thousands of indigenous Guatemalans who scrape out a living selling such snacks. Barrondo, who in 2012 became the first Guatemalan to win an Olmpic medal when he took silver in the 20 kilometres walk, called the message discriminatory. "No one has the right to judge or criticize people's work. I'm not bothered by the profession that he attributed to me in his message, because if I were a street vendor I would do it with excellence. What bothered me is what the message implies," he said. "Things can't go on like this. If we don't put an end to discrimination this will just continue. We are nobody's playthings, we don't have to stay silent," added the 23-year-old. After receiving a flood of criticism, Reyes deleted the message and posted an apology to Barrondo. He said on the air Wednesday that it had been "a joke in bad taste." "I could never discriminate in any way against people who have indigenous roots when I myself do," he said. Barrondo said he had contacted the head of the Presidential Commission Against Discrimination and Racism, Maria Trinidad Gutierrez, and was considering filing a criminal complaint. Gutierrez called the tweet "an incitement to racial hatred and stigma." "It suggests an indigenous person is only good for selling things," she said.