- Diego Maradona died on the age of 60 on Wednesday attributable to cardiac arrest.
- Athletes, leaders and followers all around the world expressed appreciation and mourning for the Argentine celebrity.
- All through his life, Maradona was outspoken on political and social causes.
- Maradona developed deep friendships with socialist leaders in Latin America, demonized the Catholic Church, and backed Palestinian nationhood.
- Maradona additionally had tattoos of Che Guevara and Fidel Castro, two of his idols.
- Visit Insider’s homepage for more stories.
Diego Maradona, one of many biggest gamers to grace a soccer pitch, died Wednesday aged 60.
As present and former soccer gamers, and followers from all around the world paid tribute to Maradona’s memory, many have additionally famous of how far-reaching Maradona’s influence was.
Whereas most well-known for moments just like the famed “Hand of God” and “Aim of the Century” on the 1986 FIFA World Cup, Maradona additionally had a big influence off the pitch, regardless of his well-known struggles with substance abuse.
Maradona was by no means shy to specific his political views, supporting Latin American socialism, demonizing the Catholic Church, and briefly contemplating operating for elected workplace.
Listed below are a number of the political stances Maradona took in his life
Throughout Latin America, Maradona supported many socialist leaders, and befriended a number of.
Maradona supported Venezuela’s late socialist president Hugo Chavez all through his political profession, even showing on his discuss present in 2007.
According to Reuters, Maradona mentioned: “I imagine in Chavez, I’m Chavista … every part Fidel does, every part Chavez does for me is the most effective.”
Later within the present, he mentioned: “I hate every part that comes from the USA. I hate it with all my energy,” garnering applause.
In 2018, Maradona joined Chavez’s successor, Nicolas Maduro, on the marketing campaign path throughout that 12 months’s election, which in the end led to an unsuccessful attempt from Venezuela’s opposition to seize power.
In 2000, Maradona was granted clemency in Cuba to hunt medical assist for his substance abuse issues. After a 4 12 months keep, he credited the Cuban medical system, and Fidel Castro with saving his life.
After Castro’s loss of life in 2016, Maradona called Castro a “second father.”
He had a tattoo of Castro on his leg, in addition to a tattoo of Che Guevara on his arm. He has additionally dubbed himself the “Che Guevara of soccer.”
Maradona’s anti-American sentiment was a longstanding theme all through his life.
In 2004, he participated in an anti-Iraq Warfare and anti-free commerce protest which drew hundreds, according to the Guardian.
On the rally, he was flanked by Hugo Chavez and wore a “Cease Bush” shirt, taking to the mic and stating: “I’m proud as an Argentine to repudiate the presence of this human trash, George Bush.”
Maradona additionally had a longstanding relationship with Evo Morales, the Bolivian president from 2008 to 2019, who was ousted final 12 months.
In 2008, Maradona played in a charity match organised by Morales in Bolivia’s capital, La Paz, with the match serving partly as a protest in opposition to FIFA’s former ban on matches performed at excessive altitudes. La Paz is the very best altitude capital metropolis on earth.
The pair had been profitable of their marketing campaign to have the ban overturned.
Maradona additionally spoke out against the Vatican a number of instances, beneath the tenure of Pope John Paul and Pope Francis. “I’ve been to the Vatican and seen the gold ceilings. After which I hear the Pope saying that the Church was involved about poor youngsters. So? Promote the ceilings, mate!” Maradona informed The Independent in 2005.
A decade later, Maradona visited Pope Francis after a 2016 charity match, and expressed comparable views.
“I went into the Vatican and noticed that golden roof. And I mentioned to myself how might anyone be such a son of b—- as to stay with a golden roof after which go to poor international locations and kiss youngsters with a full stomach? I ended believing,” Maradona said, according to Spanish newspaper El Pais..
Maradona later apologised for the feedback and mentioned that Pope Francis helped him rediscover his religion.
Though Maradona by no means formally ran for any elected place in Argentina, he flirted with the concept.
In 2018, Maradona reportedly told Argentine newspaper Clarin: “Fidel informed me I ought to dedicate myself to politics, and I might go together with her, with Cristina Fernandez.”
Fernandez is Argentina’s vp, and was the nation’s president between 2007 and 2015. Maradona was a registered member of the Justicialist, Peronist celebration which Fernandez leads.
Away from Latin America, Maradona constantly expressed solidarity with Palestine and the concept of a Palestinian state.
In 2012, whereas Maradona was managing Al-Wasl, a Dubai-based membership, he told reporters: “I’m the primary fan of the Palestinian individuals. I respect them and sympathise with them.”
He added that he has all the time sympathized with the Palestinian individuals due to his struggles because the son of a manufacturing facility employee, raised within the slums of Buenos Aires.
In 2014, he called Israel’s bombardment of Gaza “shameful” and in 2018, he met with Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas throughout the FIFA World Cup in Moscow, and informed him: “In my coronary heart, I’m Palestinian.”
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