Thousands Of People Pay Their Final Tribute To Maradona, A Portrait Of Latin America's Devotion To Sport

Citizens gather to commemorate the late Diego Armando Maradona outside the presidential palace of Casa Rosada in Buenos Aires (Photo: Antara)

JAKARTA - Thousands of people who bid farewell to the late Diego Maradona in Buenos Aires on Thursday demonstrated the loyalty of Latin Americans to their sports and art idols.

Before being buried, the body of Maradona, who died of a heart attack on Wednesday, was taken to the presidential palace in Buenos Aires and tens of thousands of local residents ventured to ignore the COVID-19 pandemic to pay tribute to one of the world's best footballers who helped lead Argentina to the World Cup. 1986.

It is expected that more residents will fill the streets to pay their respects as Maradona's coffin heads to Bella Vista's funeral on the outskirts of the capital on Thursday evening.

The outpouring of public grief over the death of a great figure, from Brazilian Formula 1 legend Ayrton Senna to Colombian Nobel laureate Gabriel Garcia Marquez, is common in Latin America, where sport and the arts have excessive importance.

"I think there is a feeling that writers and footballers embody the soul of the Latin American nation and continent in a way that no one else, much less political leaders, can do," said Laurent Dubois, a Duke University professor who writes on sports and America. Latin was reported by Antara, Friday, November 27.

"They are national figures because people feel they capture the essence of what it is like to be, say, Argentine or Brazilian. And that's partly because they embody a deep sense of humanity, more so because of their imperfect nature," Dubois said.

Catholic mourning rituals, life in the warm open air and the immense popularity of the sport were additional factors, he said.

When footballer Garrincha died of alcohol-induced cirrhosis in 1983, hundreds of thousands of Brazilians packed the streets to see his casket being carried 40 km from Rio de Janeiro to his hometown of Mage.

Eleven years later, the public was shocked again after Senna was killed in an accident at the Formula 1 San Marino Grand Prix.

Residents packed the streets of Sao Paulo to pay tribute to the rider's coffin as it was transported on a fire truck across the city.

And not just sports stars. A number of creative figures also received the same treatment.

In Uruguay, thousands of people bid farewell to poet Mario Benedetti in 2009.

The streets of Mexico and Colombia are also filled with readers mourning the death of their favorite writer Garcia Marquez in 2014.

Cristiano Araujo fans also packed the streets of Goiania, Brazil in 2015 after the country singer died in a car accident.

"It is the creators of culture who understand the human condition, so when someone touches your life so that it shapes your way of seeing the world then you are out on the streets," said Brenda Elsey, professor of popular culture and politics in 21st century Latin America. Hofstra University.