San Escobar

San Escobar is a non-existent country originated from a blunder of the Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs Witold Waszczykowski.

On 10 January 2017, Waszczykowski told reporters that, in a bid for a non-permanent seat for Poland on the UN Security Council, he had meetings with officials from various countries, including some Caribbean nations, with some of them "perhaps for the first time in the history of our diplomacy. For example with countries such as San Escobar or Belize"."San Escobar: Polish foreign minister's slip invents a country"
BBC
Quote from Waszczykowski : "Mamy okazję do prawie 20 spotkań z różnymi ministrami. Z niektórymi, jak np. na Karaibach, po raz pierwszy chyba w historii naszej dyplomacji. Na przykład z takimi krajami jak San Escobar albo Belize. Każdy z tych krajów to jest jeden głos w Zgromadzeniu Ogólnym ONZ"

Internet phenomenon

A governmental spokeswoman said it had been a slip of the tongue for "''San Cristóbal y Nieves''", which is Spanish for Saint Kitts and Nevis. News about San Escobar swept over numerous media outlets all over the world.San Escobar jest już wszędzie. O "nowym sojuszniku Polski" mówią od Rosji po Wielką Brytanię
("San Escobar is Everywhere Already. The 'New ally of Poland' is Spoken About from Russia to Great Britain "), ''Gazeta Wyborcza'', January 11, 2017

As a result, the country gained a significant presence on the Internet, and was spontaneously given a fictitious identity on social media (Twitter, Facebook), including a flag (blue, white, and green stripes, with a yellow 5-pointed star in a red triangle), photos and maps. The Facebook page was created by Jarek Kubicki, a member of the Razem political party. Within a day the hashtag #SanEscobar was tracked by over 2 million people and has become the most popular within the Polish segment of Twitter. San Escobar has also become a subject of numerous joke news, e.g. about an appointment of a military attaché and its nice ecology. A good deal of them play upon drug lord Pablo Escobar, popularized via the TV series ''Narcos''.

A Twitter account for 'República Popular Democrática de San Escobar' () was established, which quickly rose to prominence. It announced full support for Waszczykowski in his endeavor, and proceeded to issuing various news releases in Spanish and English, including a reproach towards Saint Kitts and Nevis: the correction of the Polish spokeswoman was interpreted as an attempt to foil Poland—San Escobar relations. San Escobar issues a newspaper, ''San Escobar Times'' (also on Twitter). San Escobar has also become a popular travel destination via El Niño Airlines. For a while the phrase "Maybe I better drop it all and fly to San Escobar?" has become very popular (Polish: „A może rzucić to wszystko i polecieć do San Escobar?”, a play with the Polish saying "A może rzucić to wszystko i wyjechać w Bieszczady"). Ticketing service Fru wrote that there are only one-way tickets to San Escobar. Netflix (the creator of ''Narcos'') also allegedly claimed it already has airline tickets to sell. For a while Wikipedia had a full-blown article about the country, including its population count, capital city ( Santo Subito), and all."San Escobar - co wiemy o nowym sojuszniku Polski, którego pozyskał minister Witold Waszczykowski?"
/ref> Other accounts were soon created for political and other entities within San Escobar, like one for 'El Frente Comunista de San Escobar' (The Communist Front of San Escobar), which leads a guerrilla war against the fictional country's government.

Waszczykowski quickly became a target of all kinds of derision. For example, a newspaper published suggestions of other countries for Waszczykowski to consider, such as San Serriffe or various micronations."San Escobar przetarł drogę. Na spotkanie z ministrem Waszczykowskim czekają przedstawiciele innych nieistniejących państw"
''Gazeta Wyborcza'' January 11, 2017

On January 20, 2017 Comedy Central Poland recorded an anthem of San Escobar sung by Eric Cartman, an animated ''South Park'' character.

In 2017 Waszczykowski has won the Polskie Radio Program III listener's poll "" for the most surprising or funniest utterance by a Polish public person. While receiving the award, Waszczykowski commented: "I'd rather expect the note of recognition from the Geographical Society. It did not arrive." " Triumf San Escobar. Rozdano "Srebrne Usta" za 2017 rok"
/ref>

The phenomenon of San Escobar became a subject of a scholarly paper.Ewa Badyda, Lucyna Warda-Radys.
Santo Subito, Bimberro Grande i Pico de Waszczykowski (2017 m) – wykreowany w przestrzeni Internetu fikcyjny kraj San Escobar (wpływ kontekstu na strukturę pojęcia)
' anto Subito, Bimberro Grande and Pico de Waszczykowski (2017 m) – a fictional
country of San Escobar created in the Internet space (the impact of the context on the concept’s structure) „Media, biznes, kultura. Dziennikarstwo i komunikacja społeczna”, p. 93–106, 2017. Uniwersytet Gdański. ISSN 2451-1986 (in Polish)

See also

* List of fictional countries
* Listenbourg

References

External links

''San Escobar''
on Twitter

Map of San Escobar

{{Fictional countries

Fictional countries in the Americas
Internet memes introduced in 2017
Internet humor
Politics of Poland
2017 in Poland
Foreign relations of Saint Kitts and Nevis
Poland and the United Nations
Fictional island countries
Political Internet memes