Buenos Aires, Nov 23: Mavys Álvarez, the Cuban woman who has filed a complaint in the Argentinean courts for alleged human trafficking while she was in a relationship with the late star Diego Maradona, said that when she was 16 years old, the former footballer subjected her to physical and sexual violence and introduced her to drug addiction.
During a Monday press conference in Buenos Aires, Alvarez, who now lives in the United States, also said that Fidel Castro’s government and Maradona’s close associates covered up what happened during her nearly 5-year relationship with the football idol on the island.
The football legend spent several years in Cuba to treat his cocaine addiction at the invitation of Castro himself after suffering an overdose that almost killed him.
Alvarez, 37, arrived in Buenos Aires last week to testify before the Argentine justice system as part of a preliminary investigation into alleged human trafficking for sexual purposes.
Although Maradona died in November last year, the woman’s legal representatives are targeting close associates of the former footballer, such as his former manager Guillermo Coppola and other Argentinean friends who accompanied him during his stay in Cuba in the early 2000s.
Ignacio Trimarco, a lawyer for Omar Suárez, a friend of Maradona, told reporters, his client Suarez “did not participate in any transfer maneuver, reception here in Argentina or with the crime that is being imputed that in principle is human trafficking.”
The Argentine justice system has not yet decided whether it will pursue a case to investigate Álvarez’s complaint. (AP)
