At the foot of the Obelisk, the place of all gatherings in Buenos Aires, banners are hung: “Justice for Diego”, “They will not have your forgiveness”, they claim, while a fanfare, punctuated by songs in honor of Diego Maradona, is joined by groups of supporters. Fans of the Argentine footballer, who died at the age of 60 on November 25, 2020, called for a rally on Wednesday March 10 – “10M”, a timely allusion to his jersey number and the first letter of his surname – in order to denounce those they consider responsible for the death of their idol.
“It’s an assassination, his doctors let him die”, accuses Violeta Rojas, 50 years old
“It’s an assassination, his doctors let him die, it gives me chills. If they really loved him, they would have taken care of him ”, accuses Violeta Rojas, 50, a photo of the player kissing the World Cup won by Argentina in 1986, in the hands. “His entourage was trying to steal him, they took our idol away from us. Today, Diego should be alive, on a soccer field ”, storm Nahuel Castaño, 28, his lower face covered with a mask bearing the image of the icon, who was, at the time of his death, coach of the Argentine club Gimnasia La Plata.
More than three months after the death of “Dios”, “God”, as some Argentines call it, the suspicions weighing on some of his relatives, the revelations on his medical follow-up and the legal twists still punctuate the media life of the country. “This gathering also signs the continuity of a mourning and once again confirms the myth of Diego Maradona, notes Juan Branz, sociologist specializing in sport. Saying “We killed him” and not “He died” contributes to this epic and melodramatic narrative. “
Seven people implicated
Two days after his death, an investigation was opened to determine a possible negligence in the medical treatment administered to the former champion. The terms of the autopsy are clear: he died of“Secondary acute pulmonary edema and [d’]exacerbated chronic heart failure “. But it is the decisions taken by the medical team who supported him until the last moment that raise questions.
Eyes quickly turned to Leopoldo Luque, neurosurgeon, among the first targeted by the investigation. The country discovered his face a few weeks earlier: in early November, Diego Maradona, in failing health after a life marked by excess, had been operated on for a hematoma to the brain. His supporters were then suspended from the comprehensive, empathetic medical bulletins delivered by the neurosurgeon at the foot of the clinic where his patient was.
On November 29, when Diego Maradona is already buried, the doctor tried to explain himself in the face of a swarm of cameras at the door of his home. “I am not the responsible […] there is no medical error ”, he defends himself following searches carried out at his home and his office. “It is about a heart attack in a patient whose characteristics make it totally logical that he die this way, unfortunately”, he continues, visibly disturbed and evoking, the throat tied, the thorny followed by an unmanageable patient.
In addition to Leopoldo Luque, six people are now implicated: a psychiatrist, a psychologist, two nurses (a man and a woman), the coordinator of nurses and a doctor coordinating the hospitalization at home. Their names, among others, appear in a video montage from the Argentinian news site. Infobae, published at the end of February, and which delivers the messages exchanged by the player’s entourage in the days preceding his death.
In a sometimes coarse register, which refers to the patient as to the ” guys “ or to ” large [qui] will end up dying ”, the medical team deplores a lax intimate circle that would encourage Diego Maradona to consume alcohol, marijuana and “Pills”.
Pettiness and manipulation
Other exchanges reveal the pettiness and manipulation of his relatives, with interested motives. “From [l’hospitalisation à domicile] everyone’s job depends. The work of many people depends on me […] there will be money for everyone ”, would have written Maximiliano Pomargo, brother-in-law of Diego Maradona’s lawyer, Matías Morla, another figure of the clan. The lawyer is however one of the first to have demanded justice, criticizing an ambulance which would have taken too long to arrive on the scene on the day of the death. Neither man is targeted by the investigation into the player’s death.
“I swear to you that I will go get them, all of them”, wrote Giannina Maradona on social networks
“The entourage [de Diego Maradona] did not leave his daughters [Dalma et Giannina] approach their father, nor have fluid communication with him as they would have liked ”, denounces Juan Manuel Dragani, lawyer for the daughters of the player, complainants in the context of the investigation, and present at the rally on Wednesday March 10. “The investigation could lead to an indictment for manslaughter, non-assistance to a person in danger and forgery and use of forgery”, anticipates the lawyer, while the revelations also evoke the imitation of the signature of the icon.
“I swear to you that I will go get them, all of them”, wrote Giannina Maradona on social media in early February. “My clients are not looking for punishment but for the truth”, insists their lawyer. Juan Manuel Dragani expects a lot from a medical commission which, since Monday, March 8, has been looking into the clinical picture of Diego Maradona.
Precise gravity of his cardiac pathology, relevance of the recommended treatment, possible contraindications raised by the prescribed drugs, merits of the home hospitalization: the experts, guided by a series of questions formulated by the prosecution, scrutinize the last days of the ex-footballer and his medical follow-up. Their conclusions could be delivered within two to three weeks.
