General Videla Part 3: God, Football, the Falklands

Real Dictators

NOISER

History, Fiction, Drama

4.8 • 8.2K Ratings

🗓️ 13 November 2024

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The 1978 FIFA World Cup rolls into Argentina. A surreal fortnight ensues. Fans flock to revamped stadia, while just metres away prisoners cower - hidden in secret torture facilities. As foreign journalists begin to join the dots, Videla goes into statesman mode. With the tournament in the balance, the dictator and a famous friend pay Argentina’s opponents a friendly visit. It will result in one of the most contentious games in history… A Noiser production, written by John Bartlett. Many thanks to Edward Brudney, Robert Cox, Marcela Mora y Araujo, Rhys Richards, Ernesto Semán. This is Part 3 of 4. Get every episode of Real Dictators a week early with Noiser+. You’ll also get ad-free listening, bonus material and early access to shows across the Noiser network. Click the Noiser+ banner to get started. Or, if you’re on Spotify or Android, go to noiser.com/subscriptions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:26.6	It's June the 21st, 1978. Another bitter winter's afternoon in the city of Rosario, 200 miles northwest of Buenos Aires.
0:43.3	A fine drizzle blows in of the Paranar River over the skeletal forest of masts and rusty cranes
0:49.8	of the riverport.
0:53.1	Nearby, fans are gathering at the Estadio Gigante de Arashita, Rosario Central's
0:59.2	decrepit football ground. But we are down in the bowels of the stadium. In a stifling, cramped changing room, the players of Peru are preparing to face the hosts, Argentina.
1:17.6	They wrap tape around their wrists, slide into their boots and pull on their shirts.
1:31.5	It's the last game before the 1978 World Cup final.
1:37.4	According to the tournament's unusual format, Peru are already eliminated.
1:45.0	But Argentina, playing on home soil, can still make the final with victory by four clear goals.
1:51.0	The Peruvians are focused as they go through their last preparations.
1:54.0	But tension is growing. The atmosphere in the stadium is febrile.
2:12.6	Suddenly the changing room door swings open, and a flustered aide scuttles in, murmuring something in the ear of coach Marcos Calderon, whose face contort into a worried frown. Before the aide has finished his explanation, two more unannounced visitors stride in behind him.
2:20.3	One is thin and bird-like. His angular frame supports a woollen suit like a hastily assembled scarecrow.
2:27.3	His eyes dart nervously between the players. The other is portly and bespectacled, beaming around the room.
2:37.0	They are General Hockey Rafael Vidalela, Argentina's dictator, and Henry Kissinger, a private
2:48.0	citizen who's recently lost his job as the US Secretary of State.
2:53.6	They've decided to pay Argentina's opponents a friendly visit.
2:59.6	Silence falls. Studs scrape on the floor as the players straighten up and turn to face the pair.
3:10.8	General Vidaler attempts a smile, his lips twisting uncomfortably beneath his scrubby mustache.
	...

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