Buenos Aires (AFP)
Soccer legend Diego Maradona on Monday expressed his support for former Bolivian President Evo Morales, who resigned from his post on Sunday and denounced "a coup orchestrated in Bolivia".
The "Pibe de Oro" posted on Instagram a message with a photo of two men smiling together, taken in 2008.
"I regret the coup orchestrated in Bolivia, especially for the Bolivian people, and for Evo Morales, a good person who has always worked for the poorest," wrote the former captain and legendary number ten team Argentinian national, support in the past of the Cuban Fidel Castro and the Venezuelan Hugo Chavez with whom he had also posted.
In 2008, Maradona, currently coach of the Argentine club Gimnasia La Plata, supported the Bolivian national team, which claimed its right to play at home in its capital of La Paz, located at an altitude of 3.600 meters.
In a recent message, Maradona congratulated Morales on his victory claimed in the first round of the Bolivian presidential election, contested by the opposition.
In power since 2006, the former peasant "cocalero" resigned from the presidency on Sunday, under pressure from the army and the violent demonstrations of his opponents, in the middle of the crisis triggered by his controversial re-election.
Mexico granted him political asylum on Monday following a request from Morales, who considered that his life was in danger in his country.
© 2019 AFP