REMEMBERING THE KIDNAPPING OF A GREAT FOOTBALLER
Yesterday I was talking with my sister Lolita about football and she asked me if Alfredo Di Stéfano was as good a player as Pele. I answered affirmatively and he told me that if it was true that he was kidnapped in the city of Caracas during an international tour of his club, Real Madrid. My answer was also affirmative and he told me, what I knew about that event.
This put my memory to work. I remembered that on one occasion, long after that event that went around the world, I had the opportunity to interview him during a visit he made to the Venezuelan capital. Mr. Di Stéfano, a gentleman told me some moments of that unpleasant event.
He indicated that Real Madrid was presented to Caracas to play a tournament called Little World Cup, which brought together European and South American clubs. That edition was disputed by Madrid, Porto and São Paulo. He also pointed out during our dialogue, that the players stayed at the Potomac hotel and that while he was sleeping, three people appeared at the door of the room he occupied, stating that they were policemen and that he had to accompany them to the police station for a routine inspection.
Di Stéfano pointed out that he went out with them and entered a vehicle where he was told he was kidnapped. Some time later a spokesperson for the subversive Armed Forces of National Liberation (FALN) communicated by telephone to the hotel, spoke with directors of the Madrid club and said that Di Stéfano was fine, that he was not going to suffer any harm and that they would let him go. As long as the kidnapping had reached enough publicity, what they wanted was to draw attention to their movement.
Remember during the conversation that took place in a restaurant in Caracas that, two days after his capture, the same day that his son turned 8 years old, they left him free in a central avenue where he took a taxi that took him to the embassy of Spain.
To the memory we get the words of the excellent player during our interview in which he said that he did not have any good memories of everything he had lived, quite the opposite because his kidnappers made his family very afraid. We comply with Lolita and with you ... See you later.
