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- Veronica Smink
- BBC News World, southern cone
Image source, Getty Images
Diego Armando Maradona’s death upsets Argentine society.
His final years – and especially his final days – were plagued by health problems. But despite this, the news of Diego Armando Maradona’s death due to a heart attack caused a shock in Argentina.
That shock reveals the divine status the soccer star had in his home country, where his supporters have nicknamed him. “D10S”, from the famous number on his shirt.
Gone are the many controversies that Maradona aroused throughout his life, from his friendship with questioned leaders such as Venezuelan Nicolás Maduro and Cuban Fidel Castro (who died coincidentally on the same day, in 2016), to his excesses with the food, drugs, alcohol and women.
This Wednesday the majority of Argentines seem to have erased, at least momentarily, the memory of that controversial Maradona of these years and, instead, what is experienced is a sort of national catharsis around the figure ofL “Ten”.
Image source, Reuters
The pain and shock of Maradona’s death are evident in Argentina.
Image source, Getty Images
Hundreds of people took to the streets to honor Maradona.
While some journalists stand guard outside the exclusive gated community where the football player died, waiting to speak with the star’s relatives, many news programs have decided to air from the humble neighborhood of Villa Fiorito, which saw the birth the “Pelusa”.
There the neighbors staged tributes, with candles and banners, and the older ones shared with the press the memory of the first steps of little Diego Armando, the fifth of eight Maradona brothers, who as a child aroused admiration for his talent with a ball.
National duel
The pain of losing the icon is not felt only on the streets and in the endless list of footballers and coaches who share their pain through interviews and publications on social networks.
It also reaches the highest spheres of power. The president of the country, Alberto Fernández, a fervent football fan, has announced that he has suspended his duties and decreed three days of national mourning.
Image source, Reuters
Tributes to Maradona are repeated in various parts of Argentina.
Meanwhile, mourning has arrived in the Copa Libertadores, with the announcement that Boca Juniors, an Argentine club that had Maradona as a protagonist, will not play the match scheduled for Wednesday against Inter from Brazil.
Conmebol announced through a statement that he accepted Boca’s request to postpone the match due to the “death of soccer star Diego Maradona and his close ties with the Argentine club”.
“Immortal Maradona”
Among the hundreds of thousands of comments that Maradona’s death provoked around the world, one of the most widespread was that of Lionel Messi, whom many consider the footballing heir of the Ten.
“A very sad day for all Argentines and for football. He leaves us but does not go away, because Diego is eternal”, he wrote on his Instagram profile, along with a photo showing him who was his coach between the 2008 and 2010, when Maradona headed the national team.
That feeling of a “Eternal Diego” it is shared by many in this country.
“Maradona Immortal” has titled her coverage of the death one of the main news channels here.
The famous British journalist and writer John Carlin also titled the note he wrote in homage to Maradona in the Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia.
Interviewed by the Argentine media, Carlin spoke about the significance of this death.
Image source, Reuters
The Obelisk, in Buenos Aires, was chosen as a meeting point to honor Maradona.
“It’s like the death of a Pope”, respect.
For some in Argentina, the popular pain that Maradona’s death generated is similar to that caused at the time by the death of former Argentine first lady Eva Perón, another icon of humble origins that many idolized as a mythical figure.
Image source, Getty Images
Many embrace and mourn their idol.
As in 1952, many Argentines spontaneously took to the streets this wednesday for meet and mourn your idol, a shared mourning that not even the coronavirus pandemic has been able to avoid.
The central point of the meeting is the Obelisk located in the center of the capital, the same place that witnessed one of the greatest celebrations that Argentina experienced, when the magic of Maradona led the country to conquer its second World Cup, in 1986.
GETTY
The Argentine football legend, who led his country to World Cup victory in 1986, died Wednesday of cardiac arrest.
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4Sometimes he played in a World Cup.
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2The Serie A titles won with Napoli, the only times the club has achieved this feat.
Source: FIFA
Images of the World Cup in Mexico are broadcast over and over on television, interspersed with images of police transporting Maradona’s body to the morgue, where an autopsy will be performed.
Although authorities have indicated that there are no indications that the death was violent, an investigation has been launched to determine the specific causes of death.
Legend
Meanwhile, in the last few hours a sort of competition has been unleashed to see where the final farewell of the star will take place.
Both the Casa Rosada – the presidential seat – and the stadiums of Boca and Argentinos Juniors (the first club for which Maradona played in 1976) were made available for the vigil, as well as the premises of the Asociación del Calcio Argentino ( AFA).
Image source, Getty Images
“Today football stops,” said journalist Víctor Hugo Morales, who described Maradona as a “cosmic kite”.
Finally, presidential sources confirmed that Maradona will be veiled at Casa Rosada, starting Thursday.
“Today football stops. Diego is now at peace and finds those he loved most in his life, his father and mother,” said sports journalist Víctor Hugo Morales, who described Maradona as a “cosmic kite” during coverage of the World Cup in Mexico.
“Nobody can turn their backs, you must be a very special being, have a heart of stone, not to feel that life has taken someone very precious, very dear, but at the same time finding relief because the legend that Diego deserves“, he assured.
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