Cuban Woman Admits She Was Raped By Maradona When She Was 16

Diego Maradona (Instagram @maradona)

JAKARTA - Mavys Alvarez, a Cuban woman who had a relationship with the late soccer star Diego Maradona two decades ago, said the Argentine had raped her when she was a teenager and "stole her childhood".

Alvarez, now 37, testified last week to an Argentine Ministry of Justice court that is investigating human trafficking charges involving Maradona's former entourage, linked to events when she was 16.

Maradona considered one of the greatest football stars ever, passed away a year ago on November 25, 2020.

The confession relates to a trip that Alvarez made to Argentina with Maradona in 2001 when Maradona was about 40 years old and she was 16 years old.

Alvarez said she first met the football star shortly before the trip when she was in Cuba to undergo rehabilitation for drug addiction.

At a news conference in Buenos Aires on Monday, Alvarez said Maradona had raped her at the clinic in Havana where she lived, while her mother was in the next room.

"He covered my mouth, he raped me, I don't want to think too much about it", Alvarez said, quoted from Reuters.

"I'm no longer a girl, all my innocence was stolen from me. It's hard. You stop going through the innocent things a girl that age has to go through."

Alvarez has previously described the relationship as consensual but has also said that Maradona was on at least one occasion pushy.

She said her family allowed the relationship with the star to happen, despite the huge age difference, because of Maradona's friendship with the late Cuban President Fidel Castro.

"My family would never have accepted it if the Cuban government had not been involved", Alvarez said.

"They are forced in other ways to accept a relationship that is not good for them, or for anyone else".

Alvarez said she had filed the complaint "to help all women, all victims of human trafficking, crimes", she said.

"To be able to help them in any way I can. That's my idea".

She said it was difficult to return to Argentina, where Maradona remains a hero to many.

"It's hard being in his country, seeing that he's everywhere, he's an idol and at the same time, everything I remember about him as a person feels bad", said Alvarez.