San Escobar

San Escobar is a non-existent country, a blunder of Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs Witold Waszczykowski.[1][2] 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 "for the first time in the history of our diplomacy. For example with countries such as Belize or San Escobar".[3][4][5][6] 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.[4] News about San Escobar swept over numerous media outlets all over the world.[7][8][9][10][11][12] As a result, the country gained a significant presence on the Internet, and was spontaneously given a fictitious identity on social media (Twitter, Facebook[13]), including a flag (blue, white, and green stripes, with a yellow 5-pointed star in a red triangle), photos and maps.[4] 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 attache and its nice ecology. A good deal of them play upon drug lord Pablo Escobar, popularized via the TV series Narcos.[5][7] A Twitter account for 'República Popular Democrática de San Escobar' (@rpdsanescobar) 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 the 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 ("Let's drop everything and fly to San Escobar?" Polish: „A może rzucić to wszystko i polecieć do San Escobar?”, a play with the popular Polish meme "A może rzucić to wszystko i wyjechać w Bieszczady", and Netflix (the creator of Narcos) allegedly claims 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.[7][14] Quickly Waszczykowski has become a target of all kind of derision.[7] For example, a newspaper published suggestions of other countries for Waszczykowski to consider, such as San Serriffe or various micronations.[15] On January 20, 2017 Comedy Central Poland recorded an anthem of San Escobar sung by Eric Cartman, an animated South Park character.[16] San Escobar joins a list of fictional San Something states: