In the spotlight: the last farewell to football legend Diego Maradona

An inconsolable Diego Maradona fan during the national tribute to the missing footballer on November 26, 2020 in Buenos Aires.

© AFP / Alejandro Pagni

Text by: Oriane Verdier Follow

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Buenos Aires had a tumultuous day on Thursday.

This Friday, photos of the coffin covered with Argentina's blue and white flag fill newspapers in Latin America and the world.

A coffin surrounded by a few dozen of the player's relatives in the middle of the lawn of the Bella Vista cemetery where Diego Maradona's parents are also buried.

But alongside these images of meditation, there are those of a crowd transported by the pain and the passion for the one who made them dream.

Pagina 12

tells about " 

the ultimate act of love of the people for their idol

 ".

Thursday began with a funeral vigil at Casa Rosada, the presidential palace, between song, farewell message and silence.

Eventually this unique moment ended with clashes between the police and the crowd, several people arrested and others injured.

The reporter from

Pagina 12

raises a programming error: more than a million fans were expected to say goodbye to their idol.

The wake, it was only to last 10 hours.

So it was technically impossible for everyone to walk past the body of the deceased.

Finally, the crowd resolved to accompany the funeral procession to the gates of the Bella Vista cemetery forming a gigantic guard of honor.

On the site of

La Nacion

, the farewell messages from readers still parade today.

We talk about magic, eternity, love.

Read also: Argentina, inconsolable, bade farewell to Diego Maradona

In the United States, Donald Trump towards the acceptance of his defeat

The president first said yesterday that he would leave the White House if Joe Biden's victory in the November 3 presidential election is confirmed.

But in the meantime, his team is trying to make the future president's job as difficult as possible, denounces an editorial in the

Los Angeles Times

.

Journalist Doyl McManus is ironic: " 

Donald Trump had difficulty presenting a concrete program during his campaign, but now, once defeated, he found his political program: sabotaging the presidency of his successor

 ".

The

LA Times

takes the example of this bill to stimulate economic activity.

A project defended by Donald Trump until the elections and suddenly abandoned since the victory of Joe Biden.

The government is also said to have called for an end to aid programs managed jointly by the Minister of Finance and the central bank.

For the columnist, “

 it is clear that the outgoing president does not wish the success of the presidency of Joe Biden.

He is already looking towards the 2024 elections.

 "

Cuba: police end hunger strike

The police put an end during the night to the action of a group of activists on hunger strike for eight days.

The San Isidro movement is a network of activists who claim to fight for freedom of expression in Cuba.

One of the members, rapper Denis Solis, was arrested earlier this month and sentenced to eight months in prison for contempt of a police officer who broke into his home without permission.

To defend it, 14 of his journalist, writer and artist friends took refuge in a house in the old town of Havana, the movement's headquarters, to start a hunger strike on November 18. 

The police finally arrested them all overnight from Thursday to Friday.

At the same time, the social networks Facebook and Instagram were inaccessible throughout the island.

One way to prevent the circulation of images of this arrest says the opposition online media

14 y medio

.

Finally, a large part of the activists were released at dawn, among them the journalist Carlos Manuel Alvarez, collaborator of

El Pais

.

He recounts his arrest in the columns of the Spanish daily.

The latter arrived in Cuba on Tuesday to join the movement in the San Isidro district.

State security agents reportedly came to the door of the collective disguised as a doctor to ask them to accompany them to take a Covid test.

Faced with his refusal, other police officers, in uniform this time, would have taken action by breaking down the front door to enter the house and arrest the activists who did not resist.

The site of the official press

CubaDebate

, speaks only of an operation carried out by the health authorities.

According to the latter Carlos Manuel Alvarez did not respect the health safety protocol for travelers coming from abroad by going to the HQ of the movement of San Isidro without having declared it as his place of quarantine when he entered the territory which motivated the arrest of all the occupants of the house.

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