The chairman of Bernalillo County Republicans is saying a BBC reporter took his remarks out of context. The remarks in question have caused a firestorm and put GOP leader Fernando C de Baca on the hot seat as some fellow Republicans have come out criticizing his judgment.

C de Baca was quoted in a BBC blog as saying:

“The truth is that Hispanics came here as conquerors,” he said. “African-Americans came here as slaves. ”Hispanics consider themselves above blacks. They won’t vote for a black president.” 

C de Baca told Peter St. Cyr, a KKOB radio reporter and blogger, that the BBC reporter took the comments “totally out of their historical context.”

C de Baca said he was relating the history of New Mexico to the reporter and recalled what his grandfather had told him decades ago. C de Baca said he thought the BBC reporter had understood the context, but he said that the reporter hadn’t.

“He portrayed it in a very derogatory manner and he made me look like a fool,” C de Baca told St. Cyr.