Global News Podcast - The Global Story: Maradona and the trial transfixing Argentina

Episode Date: March 23, 2025

Half a decade after he died, Diego Maradona's medical team are facing trial in Buenos Aires, as the circumstances surrounding his death are interrogated. His footballing genius made him a cultural icon of stratospheric fame, but why does he continue to transfix Argentinians?

Hello, this is the Global News podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Valerie Sanderson with your weekly bonus from the Global Story, which brings you a single story with depth and insight from the BBC's best journalists. There's a new episode every weekday. Just search for the Global Story wherever you get your pods and be sure to subscribe so you don't miss a single episode. Here's my colleague Lucy Hockings. When Diego Maradona died in 2020, Argentinians took to the streets. United in both grief and celebration of a footballing legend. But it wasn't long before questions were being asked about the circumstances surrounding his death.

Now a long delayed trial involving his medical team is underway, and Maradona is once again the centre of attention. After a shocking photo taken hours before he died went viral, demonstrators descended on the courthouse demanding justice. So years after his death, why is Maradona's legacy still felt so powerfully by Argentinians? With me today is Marcela Moraí Araujo. She's a journalist in Buenos Aires who translated Diego Maradona's autobiography. Marcela, hi, good to have you on the pod. Thank you. I think most people would agree

that Maradona is one of the best footballers we've ever seen. But when you think about him, often what comes to mind is not just his genius on the pitch, it's what he got up to off the pitch. Now you've actually met him quite a few times. Can you share with us what he was like? He was incredible. You could almost sense his presence somewhere, even if you weren't right next to him. It was like the air changed around him. I first met him in the mid-90s. He was presenting a football players union with all the bad boys of world football, Cantona and George Weier in Paris. They had decided to take on FIFA to complain about the conditions under

which players were made to play World Cups. He was in a five-star hotel and then he could sort of humming reggae songs. He said, let's go and get some pizza through a kind of back corridor. And then as we got to the front door, he just turned around to the small group of us and said, watch out, there's going to be a lot of people out here. And suddenly we kind of stepped through this gateway into a completely different reality where literally hundreds of people surrounded him like, you know, flies on honey. And I think the comparison with flies has been made several times since I've seen it in films and by other authors. And he was just disappeared in the middle of the crowd. And you could see in his face that he was quite panicked.

He was with his then manager, a guy called Guillermo Coppola, who stopped a pink Rolls-Royce that happened to be driving by, a sort of open-roofed Rolls-Royce, and whispered something in the driver's ear. Maradona and him hopped on and drove away. And it was quite extraordinary. And that was my very first sort of proper encounter with him. But he was a man of contradictions when it came to his personality as well. Unbelievably talented, a genius, clever, funny, smart, but he could also be a bit nasty and vindictive. I don't know about vindictive particularly particularly but he had an incredible memory. He remembered

faces, people and I don't think he forgave easily. If he felt he'd been crossed by someone, he didn't forget it. He was incredibly generous as well. So a lot of his teammates especially and you know people close to him will give lavish examples of his generosity. You know, by someone's father a car. He organized charity games and so on. But at the same time, you know, that very same trip where I first met him, he was due to play in Bosnia in a charity match and actually just overslept after a sort of night of heavy partying. His entourage, because he always had an entourage, put a lot of pressure on the organizers of the charity game to book a private play. He subsequently spent a lot of time in Cuba,

a country which he said he loved. He had the Che Guevara's face tattooed on his leg. And at the same time in Cuba, he enjoyed a very privileged life that wasn't at all like most Cubans enjoy. He had access to the best foods. He had a direct satellite link to all the best football in the world. I often think that very contradictory nature is what made him so appealing. It was like the most human of traits so everybody could identify with it. he was acutely aware of his contradictions and often highlighted

them. So in his plight to defend the marginal, the oppressed, the people without a voice, he often said, I'm not an example, do not turn to me, I can't solve anything. He visited the Vatican and said, you know, the Catholic Church is always going on about poverty and I just looked up at the ceiling and said to the Pope, sell the ceiling, mate, sell the ceiling, it's made of gold. So in a way, there's no hypocrisy there. And I think that made him incredibly appealing to a lot of people, a lot of very different people from all parts of the world and his football genius. I mean, I know you said it's indivisible. His football genius for football lovers is something that you can't suspend, you know, you can't eliminate it.

No one can deny that football genius. Can you remind us of that path on the pitch that took him to international football superstardom. His skills and his brilliance were on TV even when he was a child, a tiny child, he would do kipi upi at half time and before games at his club. And there's a very famous clip of him from those days saying his dream is to win the World Cup. He then moved to Boca Juniors where he became, you know, the player that represented all the values of the Boca Juniors club and then moved to Barcelona in 1981 in a six million dollar transfer deal. I remember the figure well because I was a child at the time and there was a TV series, an American TV series of a nuclear man whose sort of nuclear powered

limbs had cost six million dollars. It was called the $6 million man. And we used to boast that Argentina had its own $6 million man. In Barcelona, he did incredibly well, but also started running into trouble with authorities. Perhaps also started getting into trouble with his substance abuse, specifically cocaine. And then he moved from Barcelona to Naples in what was widely regarded as a shocking move because Naples was a poor,

forgotten club in the south of Italy. And, you know, the super clubs were in Italy at that time, the big clubs. But he felt that this is where he would be able to make a difference and had an incredible sense of loyalty and this struggle of the oppressed that he brought to Naples, where he is still to this day considered, you know, one of the most emblematic and important, not just players of the club, but people of Naples. The pinnacle of his international fame really reached its height when he finally

achieved that dream that he'd mentioned as a little boy on TV of winning the World Cup for Argentina in 1986. And as Menotti, who was one of his first managers in Argentina, like to say that 1986 World Cup, there was a sort of elite of football royalty, there were a lot of big names. But among those princes, there was only one king, Maradona stood up above the rest. What would you say that he represented for Argentineans? So I think Diego Maradona was a very divisive character and represented a lot of different things to different people. Firstly, he represented the second World Cup win in 1986, which is hugely important because the 1978 World Cup was won under quite difficult social conditions

with a military dictatorship in place. He also represented to people around the world, not just Argentina, the rags to riches, the hope, the fact that you can be born in incredibly limiting unhappy circumstances in poverty and yet become the absolute and arguable best at something. Marcela, he was widely admired, of course, but you've already referenced some of the drug abuse that was taking place when he was in Spain. There was quite a lot of controversy around that throughout the later years of his career? Yes, he did everything in excess. He was a man of no moderation. He'd have five bottles of champagne, he'd eat three steaks, he'd order 15 pizzas. Alcohol and cocaine were

a problem as a sort of young adult, which are perhaps, not surprisingly, the substances that abound in South America, sort of elite circles and in football. And then in later life, it was perhaps more prescribed medications. This sort of extreme behavior came hand in hand with a lot of fun-loving partying. He was friends with rock stars. I went to a birthday of his in 2005,

and it was live-beamed on TV. So he lived in the public eye, always, right to his very last days. Everything was documented, everything was filmed, everything was broadcast. The most intimate details of his life would either leak or be played out on TV channels. So it was really kind of impossible life to inhabit the one that on the one hand he created for himself and on the other we as a society provided for him. I think there's a sports psychologist

in Argentina called Marcelo Rofe who says we are addicted to Maradona. We as a society have over consumed him. And I think that's a very interesting thought. It's well documented, his drug abuse, but he was actually banned for 15 months for failed drug tests on two occasions. Once for recreational cocaine in 1991 and then quite famously performance enhancing drugs were found in his system at the World Cup in 1994. I think many of us can bring to mind pictures of him where he is clearly struggling with both his weight and with addiction. In 2000, he was in intensive care in a coma after an overdose from cocaine. In 2004, he reportedly

had two heart attacks in just one month. And then in 2020, he'd had the surgery, he was at home, and then he died due to a cardiac arrest. It was such a surreal time right around the world because it was at the height of COVID. And you were there in Argentina at the time. What was it like? It was an extraordinary moment. It was very sudden. People just started flocking to the streets and marching towards the centre of the city. There's a monument called the Obelisk, which is traditionally where football fans go to celebrate football triumphs. The president at the time said he'd offered the presidential palace, the pink house

as it's known for the coffin, to be displayed and suddenly it was the first true massive outing throughout the whole of 2020 because of lockdown and football had been suspended as well so there was an incredible sense of the terraces. It was like the return to match day there were people with scarves there were songs being chanted and it was incredibly moving. A massive, massive flocking of crowds towards the coffin until it all went sort of slightly meridonian mayhem-y and there was some confusion as to which way the crowds would go, how long the coffin would be there for, where it would go to be buried, the police, literally like when it goes off at a football match. This didn't last very long and eventually

the coffin drove throughout the whole city and there was just silent people all along the motorways and standing on the sides of the streets weeping. It was literally incredibly moving. I remember my mother watching on the news and saying, this is just the most beautiful, spontaneous manifestation of popular support. And finally, he was buried in a cemetery under the last ray of sun of the day in a very, very small, intimate moment just with his immediate family and friends.

So it was quite a remarkable moment. And I don't think anyone who was here would forget it. The sadness, the joy, the euphoria, the mayhem, the respectful silence. It was an incredible, incredible moment. So we've looked at the complications of Maradona's stratospheric fame and the national outpouring of grief prompted by his death.

Next, why questions are being asked about how he died. This is The Global Story. We bring you one big international story in detail, five days a week. Follow or subscribe, wherever you listen. With me is Marcela Mora i Aarauho. Ever since he's passed away, Maradona, there has been this scrutiny, Marcela, over his death. And now we have this long delayed trial. What is actually being alleged? So the lawsuit is being brought about by his five children against the medical team that was in charge of looking after him in the few days between his discharge from hospital

and his death in the private villa. They're hoping to prove that there was a concerted and somehow orchestrated plan to allow Maradona to die. This is going to be difficult to prove, but there has been preliminary hearings which has allowed the trial to start finally, which suggests there is enough evidence to at least claim manslaughter or negligence on the part of the health professionals. So there's seven people on trial at the moment, and there's one nurse who's asked for a trial by jury, and they range from various levels of accusations. And the main accused are his physician, Dr. Luque, and his psychiatrist, Dr. Kosychow, who were really the decision-makers

in terms of medical care and administrating both the medication and sorting out the shifts. The accusation is that the conditions in the place where he was were not adequate for a house internment. They were not hospital conditions. The defenses are saying he was not hospitalized at home. That's not what the situation was. He had been discharged. There is someone from the hospital saying they had recommended psychiatric or rehab institutionalization. but of course that's very difficult to do against someone's will and an adult's will. And so the details of all those very sordid and private final days are going to be played out in this drawn out court hearings that are expected to carry on at least until July because there are seven defendants, five

accusers, each with their legal teams and hundreds of witnesses. Can I ask you about the motivation of his children? What do they want to get out of this trial and is there any money at stake? Because it's always been very unclear what they were left and what his financial legacy was. So at the time of his death Maradona was closely linked with an agent or a man who was representing his business interests called Matias Morla. And after Maradona's death, Morla claimed he had been left the rights to all of Maradona's estate, the word Maradona, the word Diego, the number 10. And this is disputed

by the children. Now, he's not directly involved in this lawsuit, but I think ultimately, and a lot of the lawyers are stating as much, the children's hope is to prove somehow that Marla put together this medical team and was the ultimate responsible person. Mawla is not involved at all at this stage because what the courts have allowed to go to trial is a forensic look at the actual expert professional medical care. And Mawla was not a part of that.

But the children very much hope that they can tie the relationship between the various medical professionals to more there and that this will be a stepping stone to sort of pave the way for more open litigation over the rights of the Maradona estate in as much as that is anything concrete. Is there a lot of media attention and just interest in the trial in Argentina? So there's incredible media attention on anything Maradona generally. There are journalists from all over the world accredited in the

courthouse. It's been a few years since his death and there's been a lot of these sort of accusations and allegations played out in the media already. The tapes, the leaks, we know a lot about the characters involved, the fights and disputes with his, at the time, manager and his family have been really publicly voiced. And I think there hasn't yet been anything truly revelatory from the courthouse. I think it's going to blow up slowly over the next few weeks or months. What about this viral moment that we've seen already? That's a remarkable moment where

we saw this photo that was taken only hours before he died. So this is among the few things that have really shaken people in these first early stages of the trial. One of the lawyers for the prosecution showed a photograph of Maradona incredibly bloated, just lying helpless. It's a shocking image. And he showed it in the courthouse and we could see his daughters weeping, people sighing, and that has actually gone viral already. It was shown under the premise, how could anybody who saw him like this not realize that he needed immediate urgent help? You know, why didn't anyone call an ambulance immediately or do something differently so that he wouldn't be in this house

where there was not even a band-aid, somebody said. And Marcella, all this emotion around the trial and there are even demonstrators outside the courthouse. So it's a kind of trademark thing whenever Maradona is in any building or place that there will be crowds chanting outside or surrounding, whether it's a car park, a hotel room or a restaurant, and the courthouse is proving no different. And people, football fans, ordinary people who've been chanting justice for God, which is extraordinary really because it shows people still think of him as God, even in this sort of incredibly

ungodly like scenario in which his story is at the moment. And do you think this emotion is partly caused and the concern that people have about how he died by the fact that it's just been a really hard couple of years for people in Argentina. The cost of living crisis, spiralling inflation, all these austerity measures as well. His story and what happened to him also ties in to how people feel about society at the moment as well. I always like to be a little bit wary of drawing huge parallels between the general Malays in

the country and football or Diego particularly because it's a country that has often had massive crises and cost of living and so on. But I do think Maradona is the emblematic embodiment of the dream, of hope, and of the ability to reach heights. And that symbolic importance he has is so at odds with the way he died that there is a true sadness and empathy even by people who don't support Maradona because he was a very divisive figure. It's not like the whole of Argentina adore him. A lot of Argentina had sort of had enough of him. And this plays against Messi quite a lot over the years. But the way in which he died is particularly sad and shocking because of the sort of loneliness and the awfulness. So that sadness, I think, reaches people.

We've got this far, and we've only just mentioned Messi, and there is always the comparison there because in the years since his death, Argentina have won this other World Cup and some people say that it's Messi that is actually the greatest player ever in the game. Many people feel that way. There is something still though about Maradona that has this other dimension to it. So do you see any evidence of his legacy declining? I don't think Maradona's legacy will ever decline because I think not just the World Cup triumph in 86, which is so meaningful, but also because of the way, the character he was, the type of person he was and the way that he was a contrarian,

he was someone who thrived on conflict and needed conflict to kind of function. When Messi came along, this shy, reserved, quiet child who seemed to always be looking down, Maradona had his eyes would fix upwards, he was always like just staring straight ahead, chest out, Messi seemed to be physically the complete opposite. Messi shone and was brilliant at club level in Europe, but somehow never quite delivered for Argentina. And this was

like an albatross around his neck. It was a real issue, this sort of demand that he be more Argentinian, that he be more assertive, that he be more Diego. And I think when Maradona died and Messi spontaneously took off his club shirt and had an Argentinian juniors shirt underneath and just sort of waved up at the sky, it was like a real coming out of his shell. When Messi finally did manage to pick up at Argentina's third World Cup in 2022. There was a lot of talk about him finally filling in Diego's shoes or becoming more Diego. Personally, I think it's the opposite. Messi found a freedom, if you like, to be Messi and not have to be more like Diego, just be someone else.

I don't think that will diminish Maradona's legacy at all. I think it just sort of enhances this notion that Argentinians have even from a long time before Maradona, in the 50s and so on, when Di Stefano was considered the best player in the world, that Argentina is the best country in the world at football. They're all just like little ingredients to make this fantasy. Marcela, it's a fascinating trial and always so interesting to talk about the legacy of Maradona. We will maybe be back with you in July when the trial wraps up. Thank you. Thank you very much.