He was an important figure not only for what he did in soccer, but for the positions he took, he said. He was a symbol to all of us.
Norberto Ferrera, an Argentine historian at the Fluminense Federal University in Brazil, said Mr. Maradonas connections to Latin American leaders were more affectionate than strategic.
His death also closes the cycle of a certain kind of Latin American left, he said. And it coincides with the emergence of a new left that is less utopian, and more realist.
Mr. Maradonas support for the left meant befriending some of the regions most controversial leaders. He treated Castro as a father figure, and never stopped visiting Nicolás Maduro, the Venezuelan leader, even as he drove his country deeper into a humanitarian crisis.
On Wednesday, Mr. Maduro made a national televised address to mourn Mr. Maradonas death: Diego Armando Maradona was loyal to our friendship, to our cause, to the people of Venezuela.read more
Argentina, and Latin America, Mourn Maradona as a Man of the People
