The late Argentine football star’s childhood home has been turned into a soup kitchen to help people hit by President Javier Milei’s austerity policies.
At 523 Amazor Street in Fiorito, a Buenos Aires suburb where the “Golden Boy” grew up in extreme poverty, residents can now pick up meals and clothing. The neighbourhood of about 50,000, made up of modest brick houses, is dotted with murals honoring Maradona, who died in 2020 at 60.
As a criminal negligence trial opens this Tuesday against the seven-member medical team that treated Maradona after his brain surgery, his old community is keeping his legacy of solidarity alive. Neighbours come to “Diego’s house” with containers that volunteers fill with chicken stew and other dishes cooked in large cauldrons in the yard, while cumbia music—Maradona’s favourite—plays.
“Diego would say there is a lot of hunger and we have to help, because the need is so great,” said Diego Gavilan, who now relies on the kitchen. Gavilan, who collects cardboard and scrap metal, began coming after Milei’s radical free-market reforms following his December 2023 election. “You can’t make ends meet,” he said.
Though official figures point to some poverty reduction under Milei, mainly from lower inflation, Central Bank reports say household finances remain strained. A surge in imports and a collapse in consumption have led to more than 20,000 business closures.
Gavilan said it is meaningful that help comes from Maradona’s former home: “He suffered so much hunger here as a child. For the people of the neighbourhood to receive a plate of food is special.” The operation has no dining room: volunteers cook over open fires in the yard and hand out meals in bags to those waiting at the gate.
Maradona often spoke of growing up in a place without running water or paved streets. Sixteen years after his birth year marked on murals—sixty-six years after his birth—hardship is still visible among those queuing for food. “People are going hungry,” said Maria Torres, one of the cooks, who believes Maradona would approve of his childhood home being used to feed neighbours.
