BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Children of the late soccer star Diego Maradona have asked a court in Argentina to authorize the transfer of his body from the private cemetery where he is buried to a mausoleum under construction in Buenos Aires to allow fans from around the world to pay tribute to him.
They made the request to a court in San Isidro in a letter quoted on Thursday by local media in which they indicated that it comes from “all the heirs” of the soccer star, who died in 2020.
The mausoleum called “Memorial del Diez” under construction in the capital’s neighborhood of Puerto Madero is “a much safer place than the current one … so that all the Argentine people and citizens of the world can pay tribute to who was the greatest Argentine idol,” read the letter.
Maradona, who led Argentina to the World Cup title in 1986, is buried in the Jardín de Bella Vista, a private cemetery in the town of San Miguel about 50 kilometers northwest of Buenos Aires. Puerto Madero, near the Río de La Plata, is a bustling neighborhood in the capital with restaurants and bars that are frequented by tourists.
Court approval is needed because of an ongoing criminal case against eight medical workers who were involved in Maradona’s care before his death.
In their request, Maradona’s children indicated that the pertinent examinations have been carried out on the body and requested the transfer with sufficient conditions of “security and confidentiality.”
Last Oct. 30, the day Maradona would have turned 63, his children announced the construction of the memorial in his honor after signing an agreement with the national authorities, Buenos Aires and the Puerto Madero corporation, which gave up a space free of charge.
Maradona played in four World Cups from 1982 to 1994, and was the coach of the national team in 2010.
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