In the ‘Barrio de Dios,’ where Diego Maradona first started playing professionally at the age of 15, every corner remembers the footballing deity. Four years after his death “in such strange conditions,” those who live in the La Paternal neighbourhood of Buenos Aires want justice.
Starting Tuesday, seven health professionals accused of manslaughter with malice aforethought – meaning they could have known the fatality of their actions – will stand trial for Maradona's death.
The legendary footballer died in 2020 at the age of 60 following complications while recovering at home after brain surgery.
For the residents of La Paternal, where the charismatic sportsman first plied his trade, it's simple: they want “Justice for Diego,” as graffiti on the walls of the neighbourhood declares.
It was in the heart of this middle-class neighbourhood, at Argentinos Juniors football club, that a teenage Maradona made his professional debut on October 20, 1976. The stadium now bears his name. Seats on the stand spell out in large numbers:”‘10.”
Five years and 116 goals later, in 1981, the young Maradona moved to Boca Juniors and the rest is history.
“We deserve and need to have justice, to really know what happened, who abandoned him, and so that those who have to pay, pay,” said Hilda Pereira, a pensioner walking close to the stadium.
The majority of the area is painted in Argentinos’ main colour, red – a reminder of the anarchists who founded it at the beginning of the last century.
“He didn't deserve to die the way he did, alone. That makes me very sad,” Pereira says with a lump in her throat.
Maradona-mania
In Argentina, Maradona is not just a footballer, nor an idol. He is God.
“It must be very difficult for people who don't like him to live in Argentina and to live with people who love him so much,” said Carmela Canullán, a guide at the Argentinos Juniors’ football museum.
This footballing hotbed has produced stars such as Juan Román Riquelme, Fernando Redondo and Esteban Cambiasso, among others. Even Lionel Messi made his debut with Argentina's U-20 side on its pitch, at the age of 17,.
The club museum includes a shrine dedicated to the barrilete cósmico (“cosmic kite”), as Maradona was famously dubbed by one commentator during the famous match against England at the 1986 World Cup in Mexico.
The shrine, furnished with a sort of altar and benches, gathers the enormous amount of offerings left by mourners when Maradona passed away.
The club guide reviews his favourite tributes there: some ashes from a young Scotsman, an original university degree from a lawyer and an original Napoli shirt from the 1980s, when Maradona played there, which reads in Italian: “Thank you Diego for having made my dad happy.”
“The day he died was the day that I perceived myself as a Maradonian,”’ said the 23-year-old guide, who is a testament to how the veneration for 'El Diez' is passed on to new generations.
“We deserve to know what happened, what led to his death in such strange conditions,” says the guide.
God's cafeteria
When Maradona died, “the country, the neighbourhood changed,” recalls Claudio Merce, the owner of the Cafeteria de Dios establishment.
His place was once a party room frequented by Diego. Later it was transformed into a restaurant crammed with relics, most of them brought by fans after that fateful November night when their idol died.
“The day Diego died it was like we all woke up from the dream. And then they started doing murals on the pitch, in the streets.” For the residents of La Paternal, up until then, Maradona “was just another neighbour,” says Merce.
Nearby, on the first-floor terrace of another shop, a rusty car is on display. Merce points to it: “They used to look for Diego in that car in [Villa] Fiorito,” the Buenos Aires shantytown near Lanús where Maradona was born,” says shopkeeper, referring to the time when the future champion played in the lower divisions of Argentinos Juniors.
When we realised that he really wasn't there any more, we said it couldn’t be so’,” he sighs. “Did they abandon him? Or didn’t they? What happened?”
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by Leila Macor, AFP
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