Diego Maradona died last year after having brain surgery for a blood clot
Buenos Aires, Argentina:
A 37-year-old Cuban woman, who was romantically involved with Diego Maradona as a child 20 years ago, accused the late Argentine idol and his entourage on Monday of acts of violence and abuse, including including raping and detaining her against her will.
Mavys Alvarez Rego, who now lives in Miami, told the press in Buenos Aires how she met Maradona at the age of 16, when the star, then in his forties, lived in Cuba, where he was undergoing drug treatment.
“I was dazzled, he won me over… But after two months things started to change,” she said, claiming that Maradona, who died of a heart attack a year ago at the age of 60, pushed her to try cocaine. , which in turn makes her dependent.
“I loved him but I also hated him, I even thought about suicide,” she said.
Maradona is considered one of the greatest players in history and inspired Argentina to the 1986 World Cup.
He died last year after brain surgery for a blood clot, and after decades of battling alcohol and cocaine addiction.
Alvarez Rego, a mother of two 15- and four-year-olds, said her relationship with Maradona lasted “four to five years” but she was abused.
She testified that during a trip to Buenos Aires with Maradona in 2001, she was kept in a hotel by Maradona’s entourage for several weeks, forbidden to go out alone and forced to undergo breast augmentation surgery.
She also testified that Maradona “rape” her once at their home in Havana and mentioned several other instances of physical abuse.
Alvarez Rego has not filed the complaint himself but is giving evidence this week in Buenos Aires to an Argentine prosecutor regarding a complaint filed by an Argentine NGO.
The “Foundation for Peace” filed the complaint after seeing her confessions in the US media in recent weeks.
The complaint specifically concerns human trafficking, deprivation of liberty, forced slavery, assault and assault.
Alvarez Rego said she spoke out after years of silence to balance some of the stories being told in a TV series about Maradona ahead of his first anniversary on November 25.
She suggested that she would not initiate further proceedings.
“I did what I had to do, the rest I left to the court,” she said.
“I achieved my goal: telling what happened to me, preventing it from happening to other people, or at least letting other girls feel the strength, the courage to speak up.”
Five members of Maradona’s entourage who were implicated have all denied the charges through their lawyers. One person filed an objection to the NGO for slander.
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from an aggregated feed.)
