At the edge of death, but still clinging to life, Diego Maradona seems these days both priest and victim of a tragic Argentine ritual. Intense and long suffering, Argentines know how to create universal heroes like Eva Perón and Ché Guevara. The Argentine football star nearly rose to that lofty pedestal.
Evita and Ché were serious people throughout their public careers. They gave themselves over to huge, dangerous, and heroic deeds. They fought to change the world and they willingly carried the burdens of legions of people on their shoulders.
Both demanded too much from their fragile health. Death at an early age ended their lives. Political failure killed Ché, and illness took Evita's life, possibly saving her from the kind of political calamity that befell her husband a few years later.
At the edge of death, but still clinging to life, Diego Maradona seems these days both priest and victim of a tragic Argentine ritual. Intense and long suffering, Argentines know how to create universal heroes like Eva Perón and Ché Guevara. The Argentine football star nearly rose to that lofty pedestal.
Evita and Ché were serious people throughout their public careers. They gave themselves over to huge, dangerous, and heroic deeds. They fought to change the world and they willingly carried the burdens of legions of people on their shoulders.
Both demanded too much from their fragile health. Death at an early age ended their lives. Political failure killed Ché, and illness took Evita's life, possibly saving her from the kind of political calamity that befell her husband a few years later.