Diego Maradona dies: Argentina football great's love for Fidel Castro highlights his politics
Legendary footballer Diego Maradona, who died on Wednesday, was one of the most political sportspersons the world has witnessed. The Argentina great forged an unlikely friendship with former Cuba president Fidel Castro.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Diego Maradona passed away at the age of 60 after suffering a cardiac arrest
- Maradona was an admirer of the Che Guevara and friend of Fidel Castro
- Diego Maradona had Che Guevara's effigy tattooed on his right arm
One was a Marxist-Leninist revolutionary and renowned politician. The other was a football player, a legend of the sport. In today's world, it's hard to imagine two people with such diverse backgrounds getting along with each other. But Fidel Castro was more than just a friend to Diego Maradona, who considered the Cuban leader his 'second father'. There was rarely a sporting icon, even his contemporaries, who were as political as the flawed genius.
For Diego Maradona, politics was as crucial a part of his life as football was. The legendary footballer never shied away from expressing his political views, especially when it came to supporting leftist-politicians in Latin America. Maradona was a big admirer of Fidel Castro. He idolised the Cuban leader so much so that he had a tattoo of Fidel on his left leg apart from the famous Che Guevara on his right arm.
Maradona had first met Fidel in 1987, a year after he had led Argentina to World Cup glory. However, their friendship blossomed only in the early 2000s when the football legend spent time in Cuba to shake off drug addiction.
Maradona had often spoken about how Fidel Castro helped him during that 4-year phase-in Cuba which came after he nearly died of a heart problem induced by cocaine.
"He opened Cuba's doors to me when clinics in Argentina were slamming them shut because they didn't want the death of Maradona on their hands," Maradona had said.
Maradona revealed that the powerful Cuban leader would invite him for morning walks and discuss politics and sports with him.
Maradona even interviewed Fidel Castro during a television show in 2005 in which the duo echoed their anti-American sentiments. Fidel attacked George W. Bush after his re-election as the then American president, calling him "Fraud. The terrorist mafia of Miami!"
When Fidel Castro passed away on November 25, 2016, Maradona was left devastated. "I wept uncontrollably. After my father, it's the deepest sorrow I know," the football legend had said. Maradona made it to Havana too and paid tribute to his good friend and 'second father'.
Four years hence, on November 25, Maradona died of a heart attack at his residence in Buenos Aires.
It was no surprise that Maradona shared a good rapport with former Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez. Attending a television show hosted by Chavez, Maradona had expressed his hatred for the US, saying "I hate everything that comes from the United States. I hate it with all my strength".
Maradona's political views were evident even during his heyday as a football star. Maradona made a statement by leading Argentina to a 2-1 win over England in the famous and feisty World Cup quarter-final match in 1986.
It was much more than a football match, according to Maradona. It was revenge, revenge for Argentina's loss to Britain in the 1982 war over the Falkland Islands. In his autobiography 'I am Diego' published in 2000, Maradona described the win over England as 'defending our flag'.
"It was our way of recovering 'Las Malvinas,'" Maradona wrote.
"It was more than trying to win a game. We said the game had nothing to do with the war. But we knew that Argentines had died there, that they had killed them like birds. And this was our revenge. It was something bigger than us: We were defending our flag."
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