This Day in History: 2023-01-25
Nr. 390
DI STEFANO IS ‘KIDNAPPED’ (1963)
On 24 August 1963 members of the National Liberation Army Front kidnapped Alfredo di Stefano from a hotel in Caracas during Real Madrid’s preseason tour of South America. «We wanted to do a propaganda operation so the world would hear our demands and to that end we used the most famous player in the world at that time,» said the Venezuelan revolutionary Paul del Rio. Di Stefano was held for three days before he was released unharmed and Del Rio revealed he even sent his kidnappers a letter thanking them for their hospitality.
Di Stefano was Argentinian by birth and a veteran of the Colombian league. A famous name not only in Latin America but across the world.
