(Buenos Aires) Murals blooming with endlessly replayed sports tributes, from the series on his life to the procedures examining his death, his debts: Diego Maradona, one year after his death, remains present in the lives of millions of Argentines , entered the national pantheon at the age of 60.
“Diego lives”, “10 Eternal”, “D1OS” (pun with God and N.10), “Thank you Diego”, Diego ball in the foot, Diego kissing the World Cup (1986) with angel wings , in patron saint with halo and scepter, marking the goal of “the hand of God” against England (World-1986). Diego as a child, teenager, player, bearded fifty-something, etc.
With all kinds of legends, in all kinds of postures, frescoes, sometimes giant, adorn the walls of working-class neighborhoods in Buenos Aires, particularly in La Boca. Some carried out before his death, more after, they immortalize the “Pibe de oro” (golden kid) who died a year ago a few days after his 60th birthday.e birthday.
“He is a now missing idol. They couldn’t make a statue for him during his lifetime, so they are making murals for him, and they will multiply, ”predicts Sergio, 57-year-old Maradona fan, in front of one of them showing the footballer to several ages of his life.
Without Diego, but with the Copa
Between his birthday – he would have been 61 at the end of October – and the anniversary of his death on November 25, Maradona is everywhere.
On the screens with a series of Amazon in nine episodes ” Sueno bendito “(Blessed dream) retracing his life, and soon on Star + (Disney) a two-hour documentary in three parts” Mas went from Diego ”(Beyond Diego).
In the stadiums of course, with a multitude of tributes on October 30, matches stopped at the 10e minute with minute of ovation, projection of images or hologram of Maradona, charity match with ex-glories of Albiceleste 1986, or soon (December 14) in Riyadh a “Maradona Cup” between FC Barcelona and Boca Juniors , two of the flagship clubs of his life with Napoli.
And in the street too, with monuments inaugurated here and there for a year, such as in Santiago del Estero (north) a 5 m high bronze statue, or recently in Santa Clara del Mar (south) a concrete structure of 13 meters representing Maradona juggling with her head.
This week, during the “Militant Day” which brought together several thousand demonstrators in support of the center-left Peronist government, on the T-shirts on sale at the trade union stands, three faces dominated: Peron (head of state in 1946 -55 then 73-74), his wife Evita and… Maradona (who never hid his Peronist sympathies). People’s Trinity Argentina.
The irony is that this gloomy “first year without God” is also a good year for the Albiceleste de Messi who has just qualified without difficulty for the World Cup-2022 and won in July, once the missing idol, the Copa America, the only trophy that Maradona could not bring him.
Maradona-Messi. In the absence of the father, tempting is the question of comparison, of transmission. As in the famous fresco by Barracas (southern suburb of Buenos Aires), replica of ” The Creation of Adam By Michelangelo, where God (Maradona) gives the spark of life to Adam (Messi).
Expression of “argentinitude”
But the question has long been sealed. The world champion coaches Cesar Menotti (1978) and Carlos Bilardo (1986), judged any comparison “useless”, the two genius N.10 having evolved “at different times” and “in different teams”.
In the judicial section too, Maradona remains in the news. An investigation continues for “manslaughter” on his death, of a heart attack while he was in a private residence, recovering from a neurological operation: justice wants to know if Diego was not “abandoned” to slow agony for lack of adequate care.
In separate proceedings, justice is also seized of the division of the inheritance, and his two eldest daughters, Dalma and Giannina – Maradona has recognized three other children – contest the ex-lawyer of the star the use of the mark commercial. An auction has been ordered – three vehicles, two houses, watches, clothes – the proceeds of which will go not to the heirs, but to the debts left by Maradona. Finally a Cuban, ex-liaison of Maradona, came this week to testify in Buenos Aires on abuses by the entourage of the ex-star, in 2001. She was 16 years old.
It is the dark side, the other side of “God”, escapades, excesses, addictions, which continue to resonate beyond the grave. But are also part of universal veneration, as analyzed by the great chronicler of Latin America, Eduardo Galeano: “a god a little ‘dirty’, the most human of all gods”.
“A hero with many imperfections” but who even in “his degradation”, his “sensitivity”, is “an expression of” argentinitude “”, summarized the Argentinian historian Felipe Pigna.