Football diplomacy sometimes fails | The emb …

Mark Kent is not Paul McCartney, nor Mick Jagger, nor David Beckham nor Daniel Radcliffe, the Harry Potter actor. British, but with a substantial difference: he is the ambbadador of England in Argentina. The maximum representative of the government of his country who attacked our Malvinas Islands. When ex-combatants learned that he would be received at the Arsenal Club of Sarandí – the name of the Londoner with whom he identified as a fan – it was as if they had been pushed back into a pit. The initiative lasted only a few hours. He raised repudios in the social networks. Until the invitation to the diplomat was canceled when the initiative of a predictable escrow circulated, a repudiation by the 746 dead soldiers and the occupation, in full part of this Sunday against The Andes. The saga of this story deserves to be known because it shows – again – that sport and politics tend to go hand in hand when it comes to this sensitive issue.

The idea of ​​Kent, near the Julio Humberto Grondona stadium, is that of the journalist Reinaldo Martínez. On February 15, he handed the Ambbadador a handwritten note of Arsenal in hand. They took a picture together. The English thanked him. On his Twitter account, he wrote: "What an honor to have the opportunity to know the Argentinian Arsenal!". On the same day, an internal service of the club that carries out solidarity activities ratified the invitation and called with a "we hope Mr. Kent". The information disseminated by the publication made by the press agency El Vigía de Avellaneda. From that moment on, the state of deliberation, surprise and indignation have developed both inside and inside the sports institution. Alejandro D 'Andrea, a Falklands veteran, wrote on social networks: "The Arsenal club has never welcomed families or fighters as it does with the". ambbadador of England ".

Miguel Silva is the vice president of the entity of Sarandí. He consulted on the situation that had occurred with the invitation to Kent: "I was going to come but they later confirmed that I would not do it". When asked if an initiative to deny the presence of the ambbadador had influenced him, he replied: "Let's see … the cancellation was not organized by us, so maybe on the other side, they perceived it and said that it would not come in. I know that there was contact with people from the club because he is a fan of English Arsenal and, for a dunce like that, that 's what happened. There will be no visit, you so can not talk about it anymore. "

Edgardo Esteban is a journalist with the Telesur network. He fought in the Malvinas and his story was taken to the cinema by Tristan Bauer in Iluminados por el Fuego (2005). Futbolero said he was injured by Arsenal's invitation to Kent: "Every time I go to court, there is always a flag of the Falkland Islands in tribute to the veterans." This shows the feeling of So, for an ambbadador who is dedicated to falklandizing the issue, we have to mark our identity, because there are few problems where there is no problem. Cracks among the Argentineans, one is Malvinas.This man came to play politics.That's why it hurts that he was officially invited to watch a football match. "

Kent is a British Foreign Office official so hyperactive that he enjoys joining activities such as those offered by Arsenal. Upon arriving in Argentina, he placed a Churchill painting next to one of San Martín in the Madero Unzúe Palace, the diplomatic headquarters. He already knows several stages of first division, likes football and collects t-shirts from different teams. Sport is one of his weapons to seduce what he calls "open diplomacy". In a recent interview with Infobae, he congratulated Marcelo Bielsa. He said that he would like to meet Diego Maradona despite the purpose marked by the hand of God and noted that "this is not a conflict between Argentines and British, we must take it with humor."

Martinez works at Radio Provincia and tells that his initiative to take Kent to the Arsenal club was born after an exchange of tweets: "I was at the embbady barbecue and I gave him the invitation to know the court because he is English Arsenal fan.He said that he would come. "The fact was commented on this newspaper when it was still unknown the cancellation of the visit. The journalist acknowledged that he knew that the call of the English diplomat would provoke a conflict, as the stadiums of Argentine football are like sanctuaries of the Falklands cause.

When Kent finally refused to visit a club where he would not be well received by many of his fans and ex-combatants who would repudiate him, the Solidarity Arsenal department issued a statement: "100% of the attentive members Have not expressed their agreement with the invitation that this department addressed to the ambbadador of Great Britain in Argentina as a sympathizer of Arsenal, we canceled it. "The text ends with an apology to "those who have bothered to speak on their behalf without prior consultation". It was signed by Alejandro Garro.

Esteban think that the Falklands activity will be the same. The party of Avellaneda, where Arsenal was founded on January 11, 1957, has ten soldiers killed in the 1982 war. Veteran Andrea reminded club leaders who raised to the hand Julio and Héctor Grondona. Ambbadador Kent would have had a bad time if he showed up this afternoon to watch the match against Los Andes. Football is not always the fastest way to achieve forced diplomatic relaxation.

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