The game ended in a funeral. William Gallego wonders why his son died in a fight between fans in Colombia, a complaint that has already reached the ears of the government, which has opened a dialogue with organized supporters.
Alejandro Gallego, 25, died in the early hours of April 30 in a fight between fans of rivals Atlético Nacional and Independiente Medellín.
“It is the most absurd thing that can happen, that they are killing the kids because of some flags (…) football is not for people to kill themselves”, said William in a conversation with the AFP after burial.
The fight on a street in Medellín killed other people besides Alejandro. Two weeks earlier, the Atanasio Girardot stadium was the scene of a battle between members of Atlético Nacional’s main organized supporters and police.
And episodes of violence continue to occur across the country:
Threatened by their own fans, furious due to the bad results, Deportivo Cali reinforced the escort of its delegation. In the city of Ibagué, a Tolima fan attacked a Millonarios player in the middle of the field from behind. And in Manizales, Once Caldas fans invaded the pitch.
In the face of violence, the president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, opened an unusual dialogue. The first leftist to come to power raised the banner of youth in campaign and built an unprecedented relationship with fans, away from previous governments.
“Different Thought”
Investigator Alirio Amaya met with leaders of the Junior de Barranquilla and Unión Magdalena de Santa Marta organizations, rivals since a fight that left one dead in 2022.
Intermediary of the meeting between fans at the Ombudsman, a state body that protects human rights, Amaya defends the “understanding of dynamics of violence” in football, typical of a country permeated by almost six decades of armed conflict.
“Unfortunately, this rejection of the behaviors [das organizadas] has been turning into a rejection of its existence in stadiums. It seems that popular supporters don’t deserve anything”, complains Amaya to the AFP. “The government has shown that it has a different mindset,” she adds.
In 2022, those same eternal rivals came together and openly supported Petro’s candidacy.
“There were different types of violence that we had to appease in order to converge” in the campaign, explains Kevany de Arco, leader of a popular supporter group for Junior. “In national terms, the organizations have returned to support” the current president, adds the 26-year-old.
Alongside other fanatics tattooed with Junior’s coat of arms, De Arco asks the State to recognize that organized organizations have “their own culture”, “territory” and “language”.
In total, Colombia has recorded more than 350 football-related deaths, according to academic studies, in the absence of official figures.
“Dialog Route”
For the first time in history, the government organized a meeting between leaders of the main fans and authorities, ignoring the voices that asked for a firm hand.
“It’s them we need to talk to (…) they can help us resolve [a situação]. Without their commitment, they exacerbate the problem,” said Colombian Interior Minister Luis Fernando Velasco during the meeting in Bogota, in charge of tracing “a route of dialogue” with the fans.
In the extraordinary meeting, the government gained strength against Dimayor, organizer of the Colombian Championship, which called for “repressive” and “coercive” measures, such as the installation of metallic bars to separate the stands from the field. Its president, Fernando Jaramillo, argues that the practice has already worked in other countries.
Velasco dismissed this type of restriction and attributed the recent incidents to “social tensions” that the state must address.
This position has precedents: as mayor of Bogotá (2012-2015), Petro opened the doors of his government to the ‘barra brava’, despite criticism, and as an opposition senator, he called them to the streets during the 2021 protests against his predecessor , Iván Duque (2018-2022).
The current president is even in favor of organized supporters having a “percentage of ownership” of the clubs.
The government’s new vision of supporters already has critics. Attorney General Francisco Barbosa described the recent incidents as “acts of urban terrorism” and pointed out that there was an “omission” by the authorities to deal with the violent episodes, which he associates with the new electoral period that is to come.
“It is curious that facts of this level are starting to be presented when we are close to the October elections”, which will define mayors and governors of Colombia, said the attorney, one of the main critics of the government.
Source: Gazetaesportiva
Kingston is an accomplished author and journalist, known for his in-depth and engaging writing on sports. He currently works as a writer at 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the sports industry.
