Kidnappings of family members, shooting attacks, extortion attempts and threats: insecurity has raised a wall in recent months for Latin American soccer stars who want to return to their roots near the end of their careers.
The recent intimidations against the family of the Argentine Ángel Di María, the kidnapping by guerrillas of the father of the Colombian Luis Díaz and the blackmail against the mother of the Peruvian Paolo Guerrero frighten the idols of a region shaken by drug trafficking and crime.
Football being targeted by the mafia is not a new phenomenon. The Argentine brothers Gabriel and Diego Milito, their compatriot Carlos Tévez and the Brazilian Luis Fabiano also suffered kidnappings of loved ones, but they did not give up returning to their countries.
At the end of March, relatives of world champion Ángel Di María received a note wrapped in a plastic bag. Unknown people threw her from a car in a neighborhood of Funes, about 20 km from Rosario.
Full-scale images of Ángel Di María (left) and Lionel Messi in a Jade Gao store
Without revealing the content of the text, the authorities assured that it was a threat from “criminal organizations that seek to generate public commotion” in a city plagued in recent years by drug trafficking. The “Fideo”, which debuted at the Rosario Central venue, did not speak out.
According to the television channel TyC Sports, which cites sources close to Di María, the current Portuguese Benfica player ruled out returning to the “Canalla” team, as he intended to do in the middle of the year, to “prioritize the safety and health of his family.”
In the past Di María (36 years old) had declared that one of his dreams was to play again with Rosario Central to win a Copa Libertadores before retirement.
Also in Rosario, criminals shot at a supermarket owned by relatives of Antonela Roccuzzo, wife of star Lionel Messi, a year ago.
Shots against a supermarket belonging to the relatives of Antonela Roccuzzo, wife of Lionel Messi, in Rosario, Argentina STR
In Ecuador, the cartels could ruin gunner Enner Valencia’s hopes of returning to his beloved Emelec in Guayaquil, as the unprecedented violence of drug trafficking led the government to declare the country in internal armed conflict and order numerous states of emergency.
In the midst of these restrictive measures in August 2023, just after the shooting of a presidential candidate, Valencia gave his thumbs down to an eventual return to “Bombillo” at the age of 34.
“I would love to go to Emelec (…) to try to help the team that gave me everything, but I wouldn’t put my family in Ecuador and I wouldn’t put myself in Ecuador now,” Valencia confessed to Argentine journalist Martín Liberman.
In 2022, Elsy Valencia, sister of “Supermán”, was kidnapped for more than a week on the border with Colombia, until police rescued her.
Manuel Díaz (right) is reunited with his son, the soccer player Luis Díaz, after being freed by the National Liberation Army (ELN) guerrilla in Colombia Handout
Liverpool’s Colombian midfielder, Luis Díaz, experienced the same ordeal in October and November of last year. The National Liberation Army (ELN) guerrilla kidnapped Manuel “Mane” Díaz, his father, in Barrancas (north).
The amateur soccer coach spent 12 days in the hands of the oldest insurgent group in America, in a mountain range bordering Venezuela. He was released under pressure from the government negotiating peace with the rebels.
The top scorer of the coffee team, Radamel Falcao García (38), confessed days later that he was close to returning to Millonarios de Bogotá, but the retention of “Mane” made him hesitate.
“You have to see the situation in the country as it is at the moment, a little complex (…) They are negative things that make one think and perhaps stop,” said “El Tigre”, currently in Spain, to the Telepacífico channel.
Members of the Ecuadorian police guard the Monumental Stadium of Guayaquil, on October 29, 2022 Rodrigo Buendia
In March, Colombian police reported that criminals tricked the sister and brother-in-law of former international Carlos Bacca into reaching a point without a cell phone signal. The scammers called the striker to inform him that they had been kidnapped and demanded money in exchange for their supposed release.
Extortion, one of the most common crimes in Latin America with thousands of victims, wreaks havoc in Peru.
In February, scorer Paolo Guerrero broke the Inca football market by signing at 40 years old with César Vallejo, the first shirt he ever wore in his country.
But members of the gang “Los Cachacos de Yolín” began to extort his mother, Petronila Gonzáles, in text messages.
Peruvian striker Paolo Guerrero during his presentation at the César Vallejo club, on February 27, 2024 Celso ROLDAN
The “Predator” Guerrero was on the verge of breaking his bond with the “poets”, but decided to stay after demanding security guarantees.
A similar dangerous situation led winger Willian to flee Brazil in August 2022, when he had just returned from Europe to Corinthians, the country’s second most popular club.
The player filed two complaints for threats and insults from Albinegros fans on social networks against him and other members of his family, including his minor daughters. He ended up returning to England.
He had no shortage of reasons to fear: former ‘Canarinha’ forward Fred was the victim of an armed robbery in November in a neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro to steal his car and cell phone.
A month later, former midfielder Marcelinho Carioca, Corinthians idol, remained kidnapped for a day and a half until the police rescued him.