After Fidel, the Latin American leader with whom Maradona tied the most was certainly Hugo Chavez, the relationship was different from that with Fidel whom Diego considered a second father, but equally intense. After all, in 2000 Fidel was over 70, he had all the charisma of Father Nobile while Chavez was at the height of his historical path, it is normal that the approaches were different. Chavez, for example, was not a great lover of pelota which he considered a Yankee sport, so he approached football, also thanks to Diego, more easily. Chavez, with the active help of Maradona, invested a lot of money in the construction of soccer fields in the country for the less fortunate children. In a historic rally in 2009, Diego came to Chavez's right with a “Con Chavez si allo sport” t-shirt. Perhaps the meetings between the two are less documented than those with Fidel but Diego went to Venezuela several times, so much so that in 2010 Chavez surprised him by presenting himself unannounced during a press conference, after the death of the leader Maradona he visited his tomb together with Maduro. Of Chavez he said; "He freed South America from the clutches of the United States, took us by the hand and made us lift our heads, making us proud to be Latin and to walk alone". Last year, as Trump threatened to invade Venezuela militarily, Maradona said; "We will be Chavistas until death, when Maduro orders it to me I will fight like a soldier for a free Venezuela, against all imperialism and against those who want to take away our flag, the most sacred thing we have". He supported Djilma and Lula in Brazil, Ortega in Nicaragua awarded him the Sandinista Order, he supported Kirchner in the Argentine elections by hard-nosed that incapable Macri. When Nestor Kirchner died, he showed up at the Casa Rosada at the funeral with Evo Morales, the then Bolivian president with whom he had played a football match in which Ahmadinejad also took part, to whom Diego gifted his # 10 jersey. He loved the anti-American idea of Iran, the gesture sparked a hive of controversy all over the world with the Jewish community of Argentina which demanded an apology from the Pibe, never received. He was a great friend of Pepe Mujica, the former Uruguayan president who cut his salary by 90% as head of state and who walked around with an old beetle and sandals. He highly esteemed Correa, former president of Ecuador, less extremist than his Socialist colleagues, who had studied in Belgium and in the United States and for this reason, according to Maradona, had a broader view of the problems. When Elettro Bergoglio said "De ahora en adelante soy el capitan del equipo de Francisco", Diego considered the pontiff a sort of Communist of other times, a thesis always denied by the Vicar of God, even if those who know the "red" philosophers have revised traces of a certain "left-handed" past of the Pope, not surprisingly hated by all that conservative fringe that pervades part of the church. Already in 1992 Maradona expressed his will to fight for the Palestinian people, he was often seen even in important symposiums running with the words “Viva Palestina!” Written on his T-shirt. Two years ago he was very close to being a coach of the Palestinian national team, for free, but then he didn't do anything more. Maradona was one who shifted the geopolitical balance, like him only in the sports field Muhammad Ali '. It is no coincidence that Diego considered Ali one of the greatest men who have walked this land. Being on the left for him was much more than a tattoo by Che or Fidel, he was a convinced, passionate militancy, paid for sometimes with isolation. Evo Morales said; " It is with pain in my soul that I learned of the death of my brother Diego, a person who fought for the humble, a great friend of Bolivia ”. Lula; "His intensity in his life and his commitment to the sovereignty of South America have marked our age".
