Speaker 1: Warning that this episode contains graphic language and descriptions of violence,
Speaker 1: so you may not want to listen around your kids.
Speaker 1: About it is that you never gained closure, never able
Speaker 1: to grieve. That's what's truly wicked. I'm Connor Powell. This
Speaker 1: is episode nine World Cup of Shame are two. It
Speaker 1: was the cruelest moment of the day, day after day
Speaker 1: after day, that pilgrimage through the heavily guarded doors of
Speaker 1: a police station or government building or detention center, past
Speaker 1: the signs of the area marked military control zone. Susanna
Speaker 1: Philip Floor, like so many other mothers, came every week,
Speaker 1: sometimes times every day, to these bleak government buildings to
Speaker 1: ask a simple yet deeply distressing question. Don't stand, don't
Speaker 1: this stand? Where are they? Please? Do you have my child?
Speaker 1: She and the other mothers begged, pleaded. The soldiers behind
Speaker 1: the desk, with their polished black boots were smug in
Speaker 1: their own authority. They love to brandish it, and yet
Speaker 1: with all the power and control they possessed, they couldn't
Speaker 1: or wouldn't answer that simple question, where is my child?
Speaker 1: There's no information, the soldiers barked, come back another day.
Speaker 1: The mothers were dismissed time and time again, forced to leave,
Speaker 1: only to repeat the indignity of that walk, the inhumanity
Speaker 1: of that request, endlessly. Most families have the disappeared chased
Speaker 1: rumors in search of a crumb of hope. Understand Annibal
Speaker 1: then that Marita Israel jumped at the news that her sister, Teresa,
Speaker 1: a young human rights lawyer, taken in March of ninety seven,
Speaker 1: had been seen alive. A woman that had been captive
Speaker 1: with my sister was released. She was young and pregnant,
Speaker 1: and she eventually managed to leave the country, but before
Speaker 1: she did that, she informed us that she had been
Speaker 1: detained with my sister. So at the time we still
Speaker 1: had the expectation that something would happen. Nothing came of
Speaker 1: the rumor, but it didn't stop Marita from chasing other rumors.
Speaker 1: What else can you do when your loved one disappears.
Speaker 1: Disappointment in despair spread like a virus in Argentina in
Speaker 1: v seven. The mothers of the disappeared turned to Argentina's
Speaker 1: Catholic church for help, only to be told they're missing
Speaker 1: children were a test of their faith. It was a
Speaker 1: ruthless and merciless brush off by religious men who made
Speaker 1: common cause with Argentina's brutal military junta. Then, one day
Speaker 1: in April of nine, after months of rejections and dismissals,
Speaker 1: a small group of women, only about a dozen or so,
Speaker 1: including a Susina Villaflor, quietly walked together not to a
Speaker 1: police station, but to the Plaza de Mayo, the main
Speaker 1: plaza and Buenos Aires. At first, no one noticed the
Speaker 1: women with their plain white head scarfs. They were easy
Speaker 1: to ignore. There were nobody's to anyone passing by. But
Speaker 1: the photos they held, those couldn't be ignored. In their hands,
Speaker 1: the mothers tenderly clutched the pictures of their disappeared children,
Speaker 1: even if Argentine's refused to acknowledge the distressing rumors of
Speaker 1: what was happening in their own country. In the Plaza
Speaker 1: de Mayo, they were forced to see the faces of
Speaker 1: the disappeared and the tears of the loved ones who
Speaker 1: ate for information. The police arrived that first day, and
Speaker 1: they were always lurking nearby. They told the mothers they
Speaker 1: weren't allowed to gather in a group. The military dictatorship
Speaker 1: forbade it, so the mother started walking around the plaza.
Speaker 1: It couldn't be any less fruitful, they thought, then their
Speaker 1: walks to the government offices. The next week, more mothers
Speaker 1: and white scarves showed up. Then they returned every Thursday
Speaker 1: afternoon to that busy square across from the Presidential Palace.
Speaker 1: They would confront the man who held the real power
Speaker 1: in Argentina. They would force General Jorge Vedela to hear
Speaker 1: their voices, to see the faces of their children. They
Speaker 1: would stand outside of his home until he answered their
Speaker 1: only question, where are our children? As FIFA and the
Speaker 1: generals began their final preparations for the World Cup, the
Speaker 1: hunter's vice like grip on Argentina was only tightening. By
Speaker 1: the end of nineteen seven, as new stadiums were being finished,
Speaker 1: thousands of so called subversives had disappeared, their last traces
Speaker 1: lost in a black hole of bureaucratic indifference and state
Speaker 1: sanctioned cruelty. The question became much husher, and thousands and
Speaker 1: thousands of people were enlisted, tortured, killed. As Latin American
Speaker 1: history professor Ron and Ryan reminded me, the horrors were
Speaker 1: an open secret. It was no secret that the army,
Speaker 1: the military was involved in massive human rights violations. Day
Speaker 1: by day, the regime's brutality grew, Argentina's opposition was weak.
Speaker 1: There were no large scale protests against the military hunter,
Speaker 1: just a you dozen women walking in circles around the
Speaker 1: Plaza de Mayo. In Argentina's newspapers, words like disappeared or
Speaker 1: human rights were absent from the stories penned by journalists.
Speaker 1: Then came the challenge on the morning of October Mother's
Speaker 1: Day in Argentina. Printed in black and white, the message
Speaker 1: was a simple one. We do not ask for anything
Speaker 1: but the truth. The paid advertisement in La Princea included
Speaker 1: two hundred and thirty seven I D card photos of
Speaker 1: the missing. The generals were forced in their own newspaper,
Speaker 1: mind you, to see the faces of the children they
Speaker 1: had ripped away from the grieving mothers. Days later, hundreds
Speaker 1: of women in white head scarves and flat soled shoes
Speaker 1: marched on Congress, armed with a petition that demanded a
Speaker 1: full investigation. The others of the Plaza de Mayo were
Speaker 1: no longer just the despondent women of the square, not
Speaker 1: the hysterical mothers as the generals like to call them.
Speaker 1: They were now subversives, and their boldness made them targets.
Speaker 1: The mothers were harassed, detained, arrested. On December tenth, they
Speaker 1: started to disappear. A Susana Villa Flora was only a
Speaker 1: block and a half away from her home. The fresh
Speaker 1: fish she had just bought was neatly wrapped and ready
Speaker 1: to be prepared and cooked. The mother of four had
Speaker 1: been one of the original protesters in April, begging for
Speaker 1: information about her second child, Nestor. With her home in view,
Speaker 1: villa floor was grabbed by security forces and, like her son,
Speaker 1: shoved into the back of a Ford falcon. She was
Speaker 1: never seen again. The abduction terrified the other mothers of
Speaker 1: the Plaza. More mothers went missing. For a while, the
Speaker 1: protests shrank in number. They might have given up, but
Speaker 1: the regime couldn't help itself. It continued its kidnappings, its torture,
Speaker 1: its killings. The mothers of the Plaza regrouped, their numbers swelled.
Speaker 1: The regime did their work for them. Every new disappearance
Speaker 1: was a face on a picture in the hands of
Speaker 1: a mother and the Plaza de Mao with the World
Speaker 1: Cup around the corner. It was the type of scene
Speaker 1: neither the military, Junta nor FIFA wanted the outside world
Speaker 1: to see. As the nineteen seventy eight World Cup approached,
Speaker 1: the families of the disappeared had one more thing to
Speaker 1: worry about, and as the national side progressed into the
Speaker 1: second round of play and then the third, their concerns
Speaker 1: only grew. An Argentinian three, they feared would mean the kidnappings,
Speaker 1: the torture, the murders were somehow justified. Marita Israel explains
Speaker 1: their fears. We watched from a place where we felt
Speaker 1: that the best thing that could happen would be that
Speaker 1: Argentina looms. What we wanted was for Argentina to lose
Speaker 1: every game as a form of vindication. So the World
Speaker 1: Cup wasn't as useful for the dictatorship. After all. General
Speaker 1: Vedela's governing philosophy was as cruel as it was simple.
Speaker 1: Many people must die for Argentina to be safe, and
Speaker 1: a successful World Cup would prove his governing philosophy was working.
Speaker 1: Shortly after taking power in nineteen seventy six, Videla met
Speaker 1: within US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, who told him
Speaker 1: to speed up his dirty war against subversives. Kill him
Speaker 1: if you must, Kissinger urged, but just do it fast.
Speaker 1: And probably before the American Congress caught wind, some of
Speaker 1: the world had already started to figure it out. The
Speaker 1: human rights group Emnancy International published a report just before
Speaker 1: the World Cup detailing the horrors of the military junta,
Speaker 1: torture with cattle products, jail cells smeared with urine feces,
Speaker 1: and perhaps the most terrifying detail of them all prisoners
Speaker 1: were drugged and then tossed alive from airplanes into the ocean.
Speaker 1: This was undoubtedly the bloodiest, the most bootle dictatorship that
Speaker 1: Argentina had. It was all well documented by a host
Speaker 1: of human rights groups pressuring FIFA to relocate the upcoming
Speaker 1: World Cup. Emnesty International had even issued a warning, it's
Speaker 1: a FIFA president, Jaojavlange. Sports is not separate from politics.
Speaker 1: The stadiums of Argentina might appear, if not neutral, at
Speaker 1: least clean, respectable, civilized, protected. The true Argentine no one
Speaker 1: of prisons, torture, repression of political opposition will be carefully
Speaker 1: hidden and denied Amnesty International. At the same time, groups
Speaker 1: in Europe mobilized the pressure FIFA. The French newspaper Laman
Speaker 1: was the first to call for a boycott domestic football
Speaker 1: associations in Germany, France and Holland were also pressure to
Speaker 1: withdraw from the tournament. Some suggested moving it. Brazil and
Speaker 1: Belgium were quietly put forward as alternative host countries. FIFA
Speaker 1: president Jaohavlange wouldn't hear of it. FIFA stayed the course.
Speaker 1: Havalanche and Adidas CEO Horse Dassler were committed to keeping
Speaker 1: the World Cup in Argentina. Here's historian John Sugden, they
Speaker 1: didn't here's their job to pressure the country that was
Speaker 1: hosted in the World Cup. They didn't see that was
Speaker 1: that business. And of course much is the intention to
Speaker 1: keep politics so out of sports. It was a way
Speaker 1: of ignoring it. West Germany's left back Paul Brightener pulled
Speaker 1: out of the tournament on moral grounds, but he was
Speaker 1: the only player of note to do so. From FIFA's
Speaker 1: point of view, getting involved in the messy world of
Speaker 1: human rights and democratic advocacy were roadblocks to success. FIFA
Speaker 1: wasn't the business of making money, not taking political action.
Speaker 1: Just as former FIFA president Stanley Rouse had connoodled with
Speaker 1: Chile's dictator and steered FIFA away from confronting apartheid in
Speaker 1: South Africa. FIFA's new president, jel Haablange, barreled ahead as
Speaker 1: soccer fans from around the world gathered in Buenos Areas
Speaker 1: for the start of the eleventh People World Cup in June.
Speaker 1: Of the military Hunta had never been stronger. They mocked
Speaker 1: calls for human rights. We are human and we are
Speaker 1: right became the unofficial slogan of the Military Hunta. We
Speaker 1: are human and we are right kind of makes your
Speaker 1: skin crawl. Even today, none of it mattered for FIFA's president,
Speaker 1: and the face of all of that pressure, Hablanch doubled
Speaker 1: down on Argentina and the converted cells of the Buenos
Speaker 1: Areas Navy Training School. The muffled sounds of FIFA's opening
Speaker 1: ceremony could be heard. Prisoners, some with festering wounds and
Speaker 1: bloodstained clothes, could just make out the Catholic blessing the
Speaker 1: TV on the guard's desk down the hall was even clearer.
Speaker 1: General Vedella, the panther and pin stripes could be heard
Speaker 1: promising global soccer fans a World Cup of peace. The
Speaker 1: guards demanded prisoners cheer for General Vedella. There were just
Speaker 1: a few hundred meters away from the newly redesigned National
Speaker 1: Stadium as May as the Navy Training School was known,
Speaker 1: had long stopped being a school. Professor Ryan, who teaches
Speaker 1: at Tel Aviv University, didn't mince words. There's no other
Speaker 1: term to describe it but the Constipation Camp. From the outside,
Speaker 1: it was an impressive building with tall white columns. Inside
Speaker 1: it housed thousands of so called subversives, and it was
Speaker 1: the center of the junta's torture and interrogation machine that
Speaker 1: FIFA in Argentina didn't want seen. And the mothers of
Speaker 1: the Plaza tried to make their voices heard in the
Speaker 1: opening days of the tournament, but foreign journalists who tried
Speaker 1: to interview them were harassed and chased off. Once the
Speaker 1: spectacle of the World Cup was under way and there
Speaker 1: was little interest in talking about torture and murder. The
Speaker 1: matches had begun, I saw making the break on the
Speaker 1: left side. You heard earlier that FIFA wanted a well organized, profitable,
Speaker 1: and beautiful looking tournament. The junt of hope this World
Speaker 1: Cup would serve as a public relations boon for the regime,
Speaker 1: a scrubbing of its dirty war. The junta got its
Speaker 1: wish and then some Here's how Argentina fared on the pitch.
Speaker 1: The veteran Argentinian side, led by the dynamic score Mario Kempis,
Speaker 1: wanted its first two matches in advanced to the second
Speaker 1: round group stage, where they defeated Poland two goals to nothing,
Speaker 1: but then their game with Brazil ended in a nil
Speaker 1: nil draw. In Argentina's prospects for advancing to the World
Speaker 1: Cup Final looked bleak. Argentina would have to win its
Speaker 1: match against Perue by at least four goals to get
Speaker 1: past Brazil. Now, in today's world Argentina wouldn't have known
Speaker 1: how many goals it needed to win by, but they
Speaker 1: got a little help. Let me explain. Under today's rules,
Speaker 1: Brazil and Argentina would have played their respective matches at
Speaker 1: the same time to avoid any trickery. But in with
Speaker 1: future FIEFA vice president in Jaohavlan Jamigo Admiral Carlos Lacos
Speaker 1: making the schedule, Brazil played first in the afternoon, Argentina
Speaker 1: later that evening. Because of the friendly homemade schedule, the
Speaker 1: host nation knew exactly how many goals it needed to
Speaker 1: score against Peru to advance to the final. That's a
Speaker 1: big advantage It was the first time the military junta
Speaker 1: offered Argentina's national side of boost, but certainly not the last.
Speaker 1: The fix was in. There are too many, too many
Speaker 1: news items that make us all suspicious as to this
Speaker 1: victory of Argentina of a pool. It was supposed to
Speaker 1: be the most important soccer match of their lives, but
Speaker 1: all anyone on the bus could think about was where
Speaker 1: the are we? They screamed at the driver, how much longer?
Speaker 1: The Argentine driver blamed the delay on a few mistaken turns.
Speaker 1: He was either exceptionally stupid or intentionally making them late,
Speaker 1: maybe both. The trip was supposed to take twenty five minutes,
Speaker 1: and after two hours on the bus, Peru's national team
Speaker 1: was no closer to a Sario Central Stadium than when
Speaker 1: they left the hotel. There was barely any traffic on
Speaker 1: the road. Everyone in the city of Sario, like the
Speaker 1: rest of the country, were at home to watch the
Speaker 1: semifinal match with Argentina. Peru's semifinal match against Argentina, well
Speaker 1: they even have a chance to warm up. Some took
Speaker 1: long drags on their cigarettes. It was the seventies. Folks
Speaker 1: and soccer players even smoked on the sidelines. Many of
Speaker 1: Prus players are already piste off even before they set
Speaker 1: foot on the bus. They were tired and exhausted and
Speaker 1: increasingly nervous. The night before, the Argentine's made sure they
Speaker 1: had all the advantages of home soil, hotel security guards
Speaker 1: actually Argentinian soldiers quietly disappeared in the night, only to
Speaker 1: be replaced by dozens of fans shouting, singing, hanking car horns,
Speaker 1: and banging on pots and pans. The noise lasted well
Speaker 1: into the evening. Now the provings were used to these
Speaker 1: types of pre match antics. Every soccer player on the
Speaker 1: road has been woken up by opposing fans. But the
Speaker 1: reason you get to the stadium early is to warm
Speaker 1: up and to rest on the day of their most
Speaker 1: important match. Everest players CRUs national team lost in a
Speaker 1: black hole of a bus ride wouldn't get the opportunity
Speaker 1: to do either. And this is just the start of
Speaker 1: the dirty tricks the military junta would pull to make
Speaker 1: sure their team one. With his brown tortoiseshell glasses and
Speaker 1: permanent pout, the now former U S Secretary of State
Speaker 1: Henry Kissinger still carried himself like America's top divelmat when
Speaker 1: he arrived in boy in this areas, and he was
Speaker 1: treated like one by the gaggle of reporters following him
Speaker 1: and the line of generals who welcomed him. Kissinger lost
Speaker 1: the role of Secretary of State when Jimmy Carter was
Speaker 1: elected in nine six, but he still carried a great
Speaker 1: deal of influence. I've always wanted to visit Argentina, he
Speaker 1: told reporters in his famously gruff and almost guttural voice.
Speaker 1: I can see that Buenos Aires is simply dazzling, he added.
Speaker 1: For good measure, the Argentine's desperate for approval lapped it up.
Speaker 1: A lifelong soccer fan who had attended multiple World Cup finals,
Speaker 1: Kissinger's trip to Argentina was a mix of business and pleasure.
Speaker 1: For days, he was photographed around town, meeting with celebrities, businessmen,
Speaker 1: and politicians. If the only thing missing from the World
Speaker 1: Cup was the official US government seal of approval, the
Speaker 1: ruling junta made sure everyone in Argentina new Kissinger had
Speaker 1: given them his support. His trip had been meticulously planned
Speaker 1: by Argentina's generals. Kissinger was, after all, the guest of honor,
Speaker 1: so when the doors to the locker rooms swung open.
Speaker 1: Deep down in the bowels of a Sario's central stadium.
Speaker 1: There was stunned silence. Everyone in Peru's locker room was
Speaker 1: scrambling to get ready. The noise from the crowd shook
Speaker 1: the dressing room walls. The Peruvians had finally arrived at
Speaker 1: the stadium just an hour before kickoff. Then someone, no
Speaker 1: one remembers who realized they were standing face to face
Speaker 1: with Argentina's dictator general of a Della. What is he
Speaker 1: doing here? Then they saw those tortoise shell glasses, that
Speaker 1: infamous pout. But then I saw Kissinger and I thought,
Speaker 1: what's Henry Kissinger doing here? It was unsettling, to say
Speaker 1: the least. Prue star player Jose Velasquez remembers that bizarre meeting.
Speaker 1: He told the British broadcaster Channel four. We started looking
Speaker 1: at each other and wondering, shouldn't they have gone to
Speaker 1: the Argentine room. Not what's going on? I mean they
Speaker 1: wished us luck. Why it left us wondering. Even in
Speaker 1: both Adela and Kissinger had not quiet. I wouldn't want
Speaker 1: to meet them in a dark alley reputations, but more
Speaker 1: I don't really want to meet their associates in the
Speaker 1: dark alley reputations. In front of the camera, both men
Speaker 1: were all smiles. Another Peruvian player, Hector chum Petez, told
Speaker 1: Channel four that Vedela rambled on about the brotherly spirit
Speaker 1: of sport that all South Americans suppose only shared. We're
Speaker 1: not looking at Badela and Kissinger came into our dressing room.
Speaker 1: It seemed like they were just that to greet us
Speaker 1: and welcome us. They also said they hoped it would
Speaker 1: be a good game because there was a great deal
Speaker 1: of anticipation amongst the Argentinian public, respectful platitude decide. There
Speaker 1: was also a not so subtle, darker message, a threat
Speaker 1: that really took a while to sink in. One Carlos
Speaker 1: Oblitas told FIFA dot Com about it decades later. I
Speaker 1: was changing and I didn't give it much importance. I
Speaker 1: gave it much more importance later when I thought about it.
Speaker 1: General Vedela read a letter out loud from Peru's own
Speaker 1: military strongman, General Francisco Morales Bermudez, which referenced the mutual
Speaker 1: cooperation between Argentina and Peru. General Vedela then looked at
Speaker 1: the Peruvian players and added ominously that he hoped things
Speaker 1: turned out well, and then he turned and left. No
Speaker 1: One was thinking about how it happened, but everyone watching
Speaker 1: the World Cup semifinal was amazed that it was happening.
Speaker 1: With a three goal lead over Peru, Argentina was on
Speaker 1: the bleeding edge of a World Cup miracle. Now the
Speaker 1: impossible they probable. The veteran Argentinian side needed just one
Speaker 1: more goal to knock out Brazil in clinching improbable spot
Speaker 1: in the final. Trouble Okay checked out. The crowd unleashed
Speaker 1: an earth shaking cheer when in the fiftieth minute Leopold
Speaker 1: Luke headed the ball into the goal, the go ahead goal,
Speaker 1: and then the earth really did shake. The bomb blast
Speaker 1: left want A Alman's house a smoldering mass of debris.
Speaker 1: The match against Peru cost me the bombing of my home.
Speaker 1: The moment Argentina scored the fourth goal and qualified for
Speaker 1: the finals, a bomb exploded in my house. Almen was
Speaker 1: no left wing rebel or communists aversive. He was a
Speaker 1: senior member of the Argentinian government, the finance minister, but
Speaker 1: he'd opposed the military's wasteful World Cup spending, earning him
Speaker 1: the wrath of Abriel, Miss Sarah and Captain Lacosse a
Speaker 1: present from mass Sarah because I had criticized the enormous
Speaker 1: amount of money spent on the World Cup. The present,
Speaker 1: as the ailman described the bomb to Dutch filmmakers years later,
Speaker 1: it was time to coincide with the fourth goal, almost
Speaker 1: as if someone knew the clinching score was coming. It
Speaker 1: seems almost obvious that the Argentina put such a pressure
Speaker 1: on Peru, and the Peruvian had no choice but in
Speaker 1: the way to allow Argentina not just will but win
Speaker 1: seeks to zeal. The order to fix the match came
Speaker 1: from the top, of course, but the other generals agreed
Speaker 1: with Fidela's command. Argentina must win by any means necessary, bribes, threats, kidnapping.
Speaker 1: The regime was too close to realizing its destiny. Every
Speaker 1: victory made it stronger. How did the brutal regime ensure
Speaker 1: such a lopsided victory against Peru. Nothing is certain, but
Speaker 1: the evidence goes far beyond a reasonable doubt. At this point,
Speaker 1: the cost in the military junta left nothing to chance.
Speaker 1: Peru started the game brilliantly. Their first goal attempt in
Speaker 1: the early minutes hit the crossbar, just missing an opportunity
Speaker 1: to take an early lead. Then their energy just fizzled.
Speaker 1: Prus defense wasn't just uninspired, it appeared to be non existent,
Speaker 1: almost comically so. Argentina scored two more times after the
Speaker 1: go ahead goal. The sixth to nothing thrashing left many
Speaker 1: to speculate Pru's goalkeeper ramone A Loco Kiaroga was on
Speaker 1: the take. His parents were Argentine, he was born there,
Speaker 1: and six balls was just too many for a goalie
Speaker 1: of his caliber to miss. It's long been rumored he
Speaker 1: admitted to accepting bribes back in the day, but ki
Speaker 1: Roga denies it and his blame Prus manager for assembling
Speaker 1: a sub standard squad for the match. At least three
Speaker 1: Peruvian players, including Rodolfo Manzo, have acknowledged being offered bribes,
Speaker 1: though not necessarily taking them. British newspaper The Sunday Times
Speaker 1: reported Argentina's ruling Hunta offered Prue's dictator a deal he
Speaker 1: couldn't resist through the match, weapons, thirty thousand tons of
Speaker 1: grain and a fifty million dollar line of credit. It
Speaker 1: the evidence here is circumstantial, but it isn't some bar
Speaker 1: stool conspiracy theory. Either pressed Yes, we were pressured. What
Speaker 1: kind of pressure pressure from the government, from the government
Speaker 1: to the managers of the team, from the managers of
Speaker 1: the team to the coaches. That's Jose Velasquez, one of
Speaker 1: Prue's star players, telling the UK's Channel four News he
Speaker 1: believes the Provian government ordered his substitution. It was an
Speaker 1: unusual move and a crucial game. Something happened. Our team
Speaker 1: was changed. I was dropped after ten minutes in the
Speaker 1: second half, when we were already losing by two goals.
Speaker 1: There's no reason to change me. I was always a
Speaker 1: key player, so what can one think. In two thousand
Speaker 1: and twelve, former Peruvian senator Gennaro Ledesma offered testimony in
Speaker 1: a special Argentine human rights court that backed up allegations
Speaker 1: at the Peruvian government was in on the fix. I
Speaker 1: want to propose the anulment of the nineteen seventy eight
Speaker 1: World Cup. Argentina should give it back. It should be
Speaker 1: investigated by THIFA and by the Argentine judiciary. At the time,
Speaker 1: La Desmo was a progressive labor activists in Peru. He
Speaker 1: claimed he was one of thirteen people abducted by Peru's
Speaker 1: military regime and sent to Argentina again Channel four with
Speaker 1: the interview Perus sent its political prisoners to Argentina in
Speaker 1: order to disappear them. Peru's president offered to return this
Speaker 1: favor by losing their World Cup game with Argentina by
Speaker 1: a large school. In addition to his testimony in court,
Speaker 1: he signed an affidavit under penalty of perjury, meaning the
Speaker 1: evidence of a fix is a bit more than circumstantial. Look,
Speaker 1: Argentina was likely always going to defeat Peru. They were
Speaker 1: the better side, but winning by four goals was a
Speaker 1: monumental task. Only two other teams had won by such
Speaker 1: a margin, Germany over Mexico and the Netherlands are for
Speaker 1: Austria winning by six with all the rumors and accusations,
Speaker 1: it starts to look a little well ridiculous, and for
Speaker 1: a regime willing to kill anyone to retain power, what's
Speaker 1: a little match fixing. In the championship game, Argentina's star
Speaker 1: striker Mario Kempis almost single handedly dismantled the Dutch defense.
Speaker 1: Kempis scored twice, including the winning goal in a hundred
Speaker 1: and fifth minute. Argentina, the underdogs, the home team one
Speaker 1: three to one. It was a gritty and dramatic final
Speaker 1: played on a pitch covered in white confetti, confetti that
Speaker 1: accumulated like snow as the game war on. It was
Speaker 1: nothing short of surreal. Argentina's victory was celebrated as a
Speaker 1: fairytale ending to a magical World Cup. Disney couldn't have
Speaker 1: written a more enchanting script, nor could the best Hollywood
Speaker 1: cinematographers have designed the more visually stunning tournament just made
Speaker 1: for color TV. A great football nation, rocked by political upheaval,
Speaker 1: pulled off at home what it had never done before.
Speaker 1: Argentina had won the World Cup. Thedela and his supporters
Speaker 1: got everything they had hoped for in the short term.
Speaker 1: It was a huge political victory for the military regime, undoubtedly,
Speaker 1: and this allowed them to continue ruling, at least until
Speaker 1: congratulations poured in from around the world. Argentina had overcome
Speaker 1: the naysayers, the critics, the human rights activists, and former
Speaker 1: U S Secretary of State Henry Kissinger was on hand
Speaker 1: to congratulate his dear friend, General Jorge Videla. FIFA was
Speaker 1: over the moon and how well the tournament was run.
Speaker 1: The ruling military hunter basked in the global praise at
Speaker 1: a lavish FIFA banquet in the ornate French style ballroom
Speaker 1: of the Buenos Aires Plaza Hotel. The congratulatory hugs and
Speaker 1: kisses on the cheek were only interrupted by the clinking
Speaker 1: of champagne glasses to Argentina, to the military, to General Vedela.
Speaker 1: Senior members of the ruling military junta shared canopies in
Speaker 1: a five course meal with FIFA's executive committee as they
Speaker 1: savored Argentina's victory from the night before. The only ones
Speaker 1: missing were the Dutch players. After losing to Argentina three
Speaker 1: to one, the Netherlands collectively turned their backs on FIFA
Speaker 1: and the Argentinian regime. They refused to collect their second
Speaker 1: place medals. The Dutch had no desire to rub shoulders
Speaker 1: with General Vedela or the rest of his murderous military regime.
Speaker 1: Some of the players also believed the referees were paid
Speaker 1: to throw the game to Argentina. No that FIFA seemed
Speaker 1: to care much about the rumors or the missing Dutch
Speaker 1: players at the finals banquet, and the General certainly didn't.
Speaker 1: As the alcohol flowed, FIFA's president Gal Havlang stood up
Speaker 1: to speak. The room quieted as the imposing Brazilian lifted
Speaker 1: his glass and thanked his Argentine hosts. Havlang then singled
Speaker 1: out Captain Carlos LaCosta, showering special praise on the soon
Speaker 1: to be FIFA Vice President for his efforts. Havlanch ended
Speaker 1: his toast by saying, without a hint of embarrassment, now
Speaker 1: the world had seen the true face of Argentina. Across
Speaker 1: the country, Argentinians celebrated the fairy tale championship for days.
Speaker 1: The streets overflowed with people dancing and cheering. A wave
Speaker 1: of national euphoria swept through the country. Among the thousands
Speaker 1: in the streets of Buenos Aires were several dozen prisoners.
Speaker 1: Captors at the Navy training school had packed them in vehicles,
Speaker 1: forcing them at gunpoints to stick their heads out of
Speaker 1: car windows. That disappeared were allowed to breathe in the celebrations,
Speaker 1: but not to taste them. They were forced to watch
Speaker 1: as their countrymen, saying songs, drank to excess and pay
Speaker 1: tribute to the regime that tortured them. That disappeared within
Speaker 1: returned to their cells, now filled with the knowledge that
Speaker 1: the regime had succeeded, had hoisted the World Cup trophy,
Speaker 1: and in doing so, had erased them from their nation's
Speaker 1: collective consciousness. I remember a sort of euphoria, but a
Speaker 1: euphoria that was yes, it was contradictory. For the families
Speaker 1: of the disappeared, like Marita Israel, that victory has forever
Speaker 1: damaged their relationship with Argentina's national soccer team. Even today,
Speaker 1: the Hunter's use of the World Cup as a political
Speaker 1: instrument for repression and to secure its own popularity still
Speaker 1: cuts deep. I really like soccer, but when I watched
Speaker 1: the World Cup, I don't cheer for Argentina. I can't
Speaker 1: may Argentina win. It's impossible for me to say that.
Speaker 1: There's no way. The Argentinian journalists Ezekiel Fernandez More has
Speaker 1: described the World Cup as the most obvious political manipulation
Speaker 1: suffered by sports since the ninety six Olympic Games in
Speaker 1: Nazi Germany. Even today, the dark side of its fairy
Speaker 1: tale victory haunts Argentina. But there's no arguing the first
Speaker 1: championship was a huge boon for the military Hunta. It
Speaker 1: helped them stay in power for five more years before
Speaker 1: democracy was restored in some thirty thousand people were killed
Speaker 1: during the junta's military rule. Many of the bodies of
Speaker 1: the disappeared remained missing, Teresa Israel's included and just as
Speaker 1: in the Mothers of the Plaza, at least the few
Speaker 1: that are still alive are at the square every Thursday,
Speaker 1: thirty four years later, still pleading, still demanding answers from
Speaker 1: their government. General Jorge Vedella and Armoral Emilia Massarah were
Speaker 1: both tried and convicted for crimes against humanity and would
Speaker 1: spend most of the rest of their lives in and
Speaker 1: out of prison, and both would die behind bars. Vice
Speaker 1: Admiral Carlos Lacosse would later become a key member of
Speaker 1: FIFA's executive committee and a close ally of Jaohavlang. The
Speaker 1: cost would later be forced to step down from FIFA
Speaker 1: because of a long list of criminal charges he faced
Speaker 1: in Argentina, including the murder of General Actus, his predecessor
Speaker 1: on the World Cup organizing committee. Chall Hablan try to
Speaker 1: remain FIFA's president until he used a considerable amounts of
Speaker 1: his own political power to try and keep the Costs
Speaker 1: from ever seeing the inside of a prison. The shame
Speaker 1: of World Cup seventy eight is hard to calculate the
Speaker 1: institutional rot that let it happen. That's easier to figure.
Speaker 1: On the next episode of The Lords of Soccer, you'll
Speaker 1: see a direct line between FIFA's approach to Argentina and
Speaker 1: what happened in Brazil when the World Cup arrived in
Speaker 1: two thousand and fourteen. The Lords of Soccer, How FIFA
Speaker 1: Stole the Beautiful Game is an Inside Voices Media production
Speaker 1: in conjunction with I Heart Radio. The series was written
Speaker 1: and executive produced by Gary Scott and me Connor Powell.
Speaker 1: Special thanks to Page Nichols, who helped produce this episode
Speaker 1: and conducted interviews in Argentina for US, and thanks to
Speaker 1: a Tea Bowie for voicing our translations, and special thanks
Speaker 1: to Donna Carney who produced our interviews in Israel. Logan
Speaker 1: Heftel and Katie mcmurran provided the sound design with assistance
Speaker 1: from j. C. Swaddick and Jake Blue Note. Alec Cowen
Speaker 1: is our associate producer and Jeffrey Katz was our story editor.
Speaker 1: Our fact checker is Alexa O'Brien, and thanks to Miles Gray,
Speaker 1: who produced the series for I Heart Radio. If you
Speaker 1: have any comments or questions, please reach out. You can
Speaker 1: find us on Twitter. I'm at Connor M. Powell and
Speaker 1: Gary is at Gary Robert Scott and if you have
Speaker 1: any stories about FIFA, let us know. If you like
Speaker 1: what you hear, please give us a shout out at
Speaker 1: the hashtag Lords of Soccer h