The kidnapping of Alfredo Di Stéfano
Caracas, Venezuela, 1963
This case is a work of fiction. The characters, names, places and events in the game do not portray real people. The account below is a factual summary, based on public sources, of the case that served as inspiration.
In August 1963, Real Madrid was in Caracas to play in the Small Club World Cup, a friendly tournament with Porto, São Paulo and Millonarios, and was staying at the Hotel Potomac, in the San Bernardino district. Shortly before 6 am on Saturday, August 24, the front desk called the room that the Argentine Alfredo Di Stéfano shared with defender José Santamaría to say that policemen were waiting. He thought it was a mistake and did not go down. Soon afterwards there was a knock at the door: a hotel employee and three men who introduced themselves as policemen took him away.
In the car, at gunpoint, the star learned it was a kidnapping. That afternoon, the Armed Forces of National Liberation (FALN), a Venezuelan guerrilla group, claimed the action before the press. The commando was led by Paúl del Río, a painter of Cuban origin and the son of Spanish Republicans, who went by the nom de guerre Máximo Canales. There was no ransom demand: the aim was to draw the world's attention against the government of Rómulo Betancourt and against Franco's dictatorship. Di Stéfano was moved from one hideout to another, well fed, with playing cards and dominoes, and heard on the radio Real Madrid play without him on Sunday.
Sources
- infobae.com/historias/2023/08/24/a-60-anos-del-secuestro-de-alfredo-distefano-la-operacion-guerrillera-que-mantuvo-cautivo-al-crack-del-real-madrid/
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfredo_Di_St%C3%A9fano
- camaradecaracas.com/la-camara-caracas-y-sus-historias/ocurrio-aqui/secuestrado-en-caracas-crack-del-futbol-mundial/
In the game
Service Door
Caracas, Monday, August 26, 1963, 9 pm. In the lobby of the Hotel Miramonte, in San Bernardino, a ceiling fan turns over empty armchairs. Club Cibeles of Madrid is staying here, playing in the Caracas International Club Tournament.
On the afternoon of Monday, August 26, the kidnappers left him on a Caracas avenue with money for a taxi to the Spanish embassy, where the delegation had taken refuge. He was unharmed, played the next day against São Paulo and returned to Madrid. Del Río was arrested in 1971, released in 1974 under a pacification plan and went on living as an artist; years later he sent a painting to the player as a gift. Di Stéfano would say that he eventually forgave the kidnappers, but that the fear of those three days never left him.
