Prominent Argentine businessman calls Jewish pharmaceutical CEO a ‘Moishe’ in antisemitic post

Alberto Samid

Buenos Aires - The businessman known as Buenos Aires’ “King of Meat” singled out three Argentine Jewish businessmen in social media posts, including one with an antisemitic epithet.

Alberto Samid, who founded a butcher company and fast food chain and in the late 1980s was an adviser to Argentine President Carlos Menem, published photos of Marcos Galperín, founder of the e-commerce giant Mercado Libre; Gustavo Grobocopatel, CEO of the Los Grobo agricultural company; and Hugo Sigman, CEO of the Insud pharmaceutical conglomerate.

“These PAISANOS are all the same. The first two made their money here and went to live to Uruguay. The other rat gives our vaccines to the gringos,” Samid wrote on Twitter, the last description applying to Sigman. Insud has been involved in the production of Astra-Zeneca COVID-19 vaccines. 

Estos PAISANOS son todos iguales. Los dos primeros hicieron la guita acá y se fueron a vivir a Uruguay. La otra rata le da nuestras vacunas a los gringos..... pic.twitter.com/TRqyFfmIrW

— Alberto Samid (@soyalbertosamid) April 16, 2021

“Paisano,” meaning peasant in Spanish and Italian, can be an affectionate term and can also mean “Jew” in some Latin American contexts. But Samid, who was convicted of tax evasion in 2019, went further in another tweet about Sigman.

“This MOISHE has no limits. He never gets tired of stealing from us!!!! When are we going to go to Garin to block his laboratory?” Samid wrote.

Garin is a town in Buenos Aires Province where one of Insud’s laboratories is located. “Moishe” can be used as an antisemitic slur.

Source: JTA