Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner (CFK) was in China for meetings with President Xi Jinping about the South American nation’s need for foreign investment.  And for some reason, she sent out an oddly placed and racist message on social media that mocked Western misperceptions of Asian accents.

“Vinieron solo por el aloz y petloleo,” Fernandez wrote on her widely followed Twitter account.  She appears to be joking that the people attending the meeting had only come for “rice and petroleum”.  Except that CFK substituted the letter “R” for “L” – instead of writing “arroz y petroleo” in proper Spanish, she wrote “aloz y petloleo”.  In English, that would read, “Did they only come for lice and petloleum,” mocking the Chinese accent.  CFK later offered a half-arsed apology, explaining that humor and levity was needed at the moment.  Ha ha.  :/

Why CFK would do that is a mystery.  She’s there to ask Beijing to agree to a currency swap, which will help Argentina boost its dwindling reserves.  And that’s on top of the billions Argentina already receives from China each year.  She was basically mocking the people who are keeping her troubled economy afloat.

The tasteless tweet comes at a time of an unprecedented scandal swirling around her government.  Argentine prosecutor Arturo Nisman turned up dead just after accusing the Fernandez government of working to cover-up the investigation into the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center.  Although it appears to be a suicide, there are holes in the story that conspiracy theorists are gleefully filling while the opposition exploits the situation.

CFK is in her final term as president, and her approval rating has recently fallen to 40 percent.  This latest gaffe isn’t going to help her with that.