Maradona, faithful to Castro and the Bolivarian left
Fidel Castro and Maradona in 2005 in Buenos Aires.
AFP - HO
Text by: Farid Achache Follow
4 min
If Maradona, who died on November 25, was known for his footballing talent, he was also known for his political commitments that have marked his life.
He even nicknamed Fidel Castro his "second father".
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Che tattoo on the right shoulder, Fidel Castro tattoo on the right leg, long hug with Chavez.
Maradona had political ideas and made no secret of them.
And he was definitely not the type to wonder if it could please or not.
Maradona, icon of world football allowed himself everything.
"Stop Bush"
But beyond the image, the Argentinian, who spent part of his childhood under the Argentine military dictatorship established by the coup d'état of June 28, 1966, readily saluted the values of the left.
He never missed an opportunity to show his love for South American socialism.
He loved Hugo Chavez, founder of the Venezuelan “Bolivarian revolution” and Evo Moralès, former president of Bolivia.
Above all, this Third World rebel hated the "gringos".
At the 2005 Summit of the Americas in Mar del Plata, he proudly wore a “Stop Bush” t-shirt.
But Maradona wasn't just in display.
In 1995, he launched with Eric Cantona the International Association of Footballers (AIFP), the first world union intended to oppose the powerful Fifa.
Whether with the Argentina team or in clubs, Maradona did not forget where he came from: poor neighborhoods of Buenos Aires.
He came from those “cabecitas negras” (little black heads), despised by the bourgeoisie of the Argentine capital.
Maradona was a Peronist, a movement that represents workers, and gives visibility to a marginalized world, especially the popular classes.
Impressed by Castro
Leader in the locker room, Maradona was also very close to Lider maximo Fidel.
Their first meeting dated back to 1987, in Havana, a year after “the hand of God” and his world coronation.
Maradona was impressed by Castro who stood up to the United States.
It was in Cuba that he went for his detoxification cures.
El Pibe de Oro considered Castro his "second father".
In 2005, having become a successful TV host, he interviews Castro in Havana on his show “La noche del Diez”.
Ironically, Castro also died on November 25.
“
With Fidel Castro, Chavez
(and the presidents of Brazil and Argentina) Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Nestor Kirchner […],
I believe that we can form a good alliance against poverty, corruption and sever the relationship subsidiary with the United States
”, he said, affirming that the emotion of having known Chavez (who died in 2013) had been“
perhaps stronger
”than a victory in the World Cup.
In 2018, Maradona presented himself as a “
soldier
” to Chavez's successor, Nicolas Maduro, and attended his campaign meetings.
Donald Trump, "a puppet"
On the sidelines of the 2018 World Cup final in Russia, Maradona had met Mahmoud Abbas and did not hesitate to tell the President of the Palestinian Authority that his heart was "Palestinian".
A year earlier, Donald Trump, the US president declared that the United States recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and announced his intention to move the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
Of Donald Trump's America, the boy from the Villa Fiorito slum said, “
The sheriffs of the world these Yankees believe that because they have the biggest bomb in the world they can rule us.
But no, not us.
This puppet that they have as president cannot buy us
”.
Nicknamed “the Che of sport” by Fidel Castro, we will remember that Maradona had ridiculed at the World Cup 86 the England of Margaret Thatcher, conservative and liberal.
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