San Escobar
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

San Escobar is a non-existent country originated from a blunder of the
Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...
Minister of Foreign Affairs A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between cou ...
Witold Waszczykowski Witold Jan Waszczykowski (; born 5 May 1957) is a Polish politician. He was the Minister of Foreign Affairs between 2015 and 2018. Waszczykowski was a Member of the Sejm (2011–2019), and has been the Member of the European Parliament since 2019 ...
. On 10 January 2017, Waszczykowski told reporters that, in a bid for a non-permanent seat for
Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...
on the
UN Security Council The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international peace and security, recommending the admission of new UN members to the General Assembly, and ...
, he had meetings with officials from various countries, including some
Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...
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 Belize (; bzj, Bileez) is a Caribbean and Central American country on the northeastern coast of Central America. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. It also shares a wate ...
"."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 Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria (; ; 1 December 19492 December 1993) was a Colombian drug lord and narcoterrorist who was the founder and sole leader of the Medellín Cartel. Dubbed "the king of cocaine", Escobar is the wealthiest criminal in h ...
, popularized via the TV series ''
Narcos ''Narcos'' is an American-Colombian crime drama television series created and produced by Chris Brancato, Carlo Bernard, and Doug Miro. Set and filmed in Colombia, seasons 1 and 2 are based on the story of Colombian narcoterrorist and drug kin ...
''. 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 Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...
(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 Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare in which small groups of combatants, such as paramilitary personnel, armed civilians, or irregulars, use military tactics including ambushes, sabotage, raids, petty warfare, hit-and-run tactic ...
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 San Serriffe is a fictional island nation invented for April Fools' Day 1977, by Britain's ''The Guardian'' newspaper.''The Guardian'Special Report: San Serriffe. 1 April 1977 It was featured in a seven-page hoax supplement, published in the ...
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 Comedy Central is a Polish channel focusing on comedy which was launched on 19 October 2006. It was the first channel outside the United States to use the Comedy Central name and the fourth channel launched by MTV Networks International in Poland. ...
recorded an anthem of San Escobar sung by
Eric Cartman Eric Theodore Cartman, commonly referred to by his surname Cartman, is a fictional character in the adult animated sitcom '' South Park'', created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone. He is voiced by Parker, and is one of the series' four main chara ...
, an animated ''
South Park ''South Park'' is an American animated sitcom created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone and developed by Brian Graden for Comedy Central. The series revolves around four boys Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman, and Kenny McCormickand th ...
'' character. In 2017 Waszczykowski has won the
Polskie Radio Program III Polskie Radio Program III (Polish Radio Three), known also as Radiowa Trójka or shortly Trójka is a radio channel broadcast by the Polish public broadcaster, Polskie Radio. It is a music station playing a wide variety of music from rock, altern ...
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 This is a list of fictional countries from published works of fiction (books, films, television series, games, etc.). Fictional works describe all the countries in the following list as located somewhere as we know it – as opposed to underg ...
*
Listenbourg Listenbourg is a fictional country created as the subject of an internet meme in October 2022, which depicts it as an extension of the Iberian Peninsula. French Twitter user Gaspard Hoelscher shared a photomontage, doctored map of Europe with a ...


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