Diego Maradona's Politics: Fidel Castro, Cuba and Palestine

Diego called himself the Che Guevara of football, and he has his compatriot tattooed on his right arm with an image of Fidel Castro on his left leg.

His first meeting with Fidel Castro came in nineteen eighty-seven, a year after he won the World Cup in Mexico. But Castro became his second father from two thousand to two thousand and four, when Maradona found refuge in Cuba to receive treatment for his drug addiction.

At a time when hospitals refused to help him, fearing the burden of his death, Cuba opened its doors and, in his own words, saved his life.

During this period, he spent a lot of time with Castro, talking sports and politics.

Maradona was also an avid supporter of Hugo Chavez, his successor Maduro, and Bolivia's Morales. Even though it's his public criticism of the United States and its foreign policy that make him a global icon of anti-imperialism.

Maradona participated in protests in two thousand and four against the US invasion of Iraq, calling George Bush human trash, and declared that his heart is Palestinian when meeting President Mahmoud Abbas in person during the two thousand and eighteen World Cup.

Maradona called Israel's bombardment of Gaza shameful, and also decried the access of the Catholic Church.

In two thousand and five, he said, "I've been to the Vatican and had seen the gold ceilings, and then I hear the Pope saying that the church was concerned about poor kids. So sell the ceilings, mate." Maradona, gone at sixty. Too soon. We were blessed to witness his wizardry with the football, although his hopes for a different world

extended way beyond that.

Estoy convencido que el hermano y compañero Diego, compatriota latinoamericano, es el símbolo de la integración de los pueblos.

Além de ser um grande futebolista, além de ser um grande jogador, o Maradona era um grande político.

O Maradona falava de política, falava de soberania, falava de América Latina, falava em defesa dos pobres, falava em defesa da vida.

O Maradona tinha palpite para quase todas as coisas que aconteciam no mundo que prejudicavam o povo trabalhador e o povo humilde.

Yo, yo, yo soy de corazón palestino. Ah, él es palestino.

Hablamos del país, hablamos de la crisis que tiene el mundo y me hizo un, un halago muy, muy, muy jodeado, ¿no?

Me dijo, pero como ya cuando nos íbamos a ir, cuando yo no me quería ir.

Me dijo, que nadie diga que vos no sabes de política.

Me agarró un llanto terrible porque fue como mi segundo padre.

Los palestinos le tiran con piedra y esto le tiran con unos misiles que se las pegan.

Y le siguen ganando tierra y nadie hace nada.

Nadie hace nada. This is for Palestine. ¿Palestina? ¿Para mí? Palestina. Ah, Palestina.

Yeah, this is from- Ah, okay. This is for you. ¿Por mí? For you. Gracias. Viva Palestina.

Es un убийца. Creo que, que no

es posible continuar así, como decide todo por todos nosotros, por todo el mundo.

Porque tenga la bomba y la bomba se haga más daño, no quiere decir que tenga poder. El poder no es tener, eh, tiene una bomba y, y matar a, a, a cinco mil personas.

Para mí es un asesino sin escrúpulos.