Colombia-Soccer Slaying
7-3-1994
^President, Thousands of Others Gather for Funeral of Soccer Star AP Photo MED101
^By ANDREW SELSKY
^Associated Press Writer
MEDELLIN, Colombia (AP) _ Thousands of mourners attended the funeral of soccer star Andres Escobar on Sunday, outraged at his murder for scoring a goal against his own team during Colombia's World Cup loss to the United States.
"Unpardonable!" said a banner headline in the Medellin newspaper El Colombiano.
Escobar was shot early Saturday in the parking lot of a bar in Medellin, Colombia's third-largest city. A man police arrested early Sunday confessed to shooting Escobar, said Gen. Octavio Vargas Silva, director of the national police.
The man, Humberto Munoz, was the driver for another man whom police also arrested, rancher Santiago Gallon Henao. Gallon allegedly had bet heavily on the Colombian team and was upset at having lost. Police were searching for two other suspects.
Judicial police subdirector Jairo Antonio Rodriguez said Sunday that Escobar was shot six times, not 12 as previously reported.
President Cesar Gaviria told mourners at the funeral, held in a basketball stadium, that Escobar was the victim of "absurd violence" afflicting the country.
Chants of "justice, justice" erupted from the crowd of 10,000 during eulogies to the 27-year-old athlete. His body lay in a wooden casket on the arena floor with a green-and-white flag of Atletico Nacional of Medellin, his regular team, draped over it.
After the funeral, attended by Escobar's teammates from Colombia's World Cup team and from Atletico Nacional, a cortege made its way slowly to a cemetery on the outskirts of the city. A police honor guard walked alongside.
Fans, many of them weeping, threw flowers at the black hearse, already heaped with flowers.
Some 15,000 at the cemetery watched as the coffin was lowered into the ground. Colombian flags waved from the throng on a cemetery hillside. Hundreds of onlookers climbed onto trees for a view, snapping branches under their weight as police and soldiers tried to maintain order.
More than 100,000 mourners viewed Escobar's body in the arena before the funeral, filing past the casket through the night Saturday. Some made the sign of the cross over the soccer star's face, others waved soccer banners over the body.
Family members held a vigil, weeping alone or gathering in groups with their arms around each other.
As the sun burned off the dawn haze clinging to the green mountains surrounding this city of church spires, office towers and white Spanish- colonial houses, the line of mourners grew to more than a quarter-mile.
"He was an idol for all of Colombia, and this is the last memory we will have of him," said Miller Vagas, a 29-year-old laborer who waited 2 hours to see the body after getting in line at 6 a.m.
Soldiers wearing camouflage uniforms and toting automatic rifles watched the subdued crowd.
Nearby, children and teen-agers played soccer.
In Colombia, attention is not divided among several sports, but focused only on soccer, and the star players are revered. President-elect Ernesto Samper used an endorsement from a star member of the Colombian World Cup team to help him win election last month.
So Colombia's elimination from the World Cup, caused in part by Escobar's own-goal that led to Colombia's 2-1 loss to the United States on June 22, was a shock. But the murder has shaken this nation even more.
Escobar, in a newspaper column he wrote last Wednesday, called for calm after Colombia's elimination.
"Please, let's maintain respect," wrote the man who was considered the gentleman of the Colombian team for his courtly manners and fair play.
"A big hug for everyone, and let me say it was a phenomenal opportunity and experience, a rare one, which I've never felt before in my life.
"Until later, because life doesn't end here," said the column, which was reprinted Sunday in El Tiempo, Colombia's most widely read newspaper.
^President, Thousands of Others Gather for Funeral of Soccer Star AP Photo MED101
^By ANDREW SELSKY
^Associated Press Writer
MEDELLIN, Colombia (AP) _ Thousands of mourners attended the funeral of soccer star Andres Escobar on Sunday, outraged at his murder for scoring a goal against his own team during Colombia's World Cup loss to the United States.
"Unpardonable!" said a banner headline in the Medellin newspaper El Colombiano.
Escobar was shot early Saturday in the parking lot of a bar in Medellin, Colombia's third-largest city. A man police arrested early Sunday confessed to shooting Escobar, said Gen. Octavio Vargas Silva, director of the national police.
The man, Humberto Munoz, was the driver for another man whom police also arrested, rancher Santiago Gallon Henao. Gallon allegedly had bet heavily on the Colombian team and was upset at having lost. Police were searching for two other suspects.
Judicial police subdirector Jairo Antonio Rodriguez said Sunday that Escobar was shot six times, not 12 as previously reported.
President Cesar Gaviria told mourners at the funeral, held in a basketball stadium, that Escobar was the victim of "absurd violence" afflicting the country.
Chants of "justice, justice" erupted from the crowd of 10,000 during eulogies to the 27-year-old athlete. His body lay in a wooden casket on the arena floor with a green-and-white flag of Atletico Nacional of Medellin, his regular team, draped over it.
After the funeral, attended by Escobar's teammates from Colombia's World Cup team and from Atletico Nacional, a cortege made its way slowly to a cemetery on the outskirts of the city. A police honor guard walked alongside.
Fans, many of them weeping, threw flowers at the black hearse, already heaped with flowers.
Some 15,000 at the cemetery watched as the coffin was lowered into the ground. Colombian flags waved from the throng on a cemetery hillside. Hundreds of onlookers climbed onto trees for a view, snapping branches under their weight as police and soldiers tried to maintain order.
More than 100,000 mourners viewed Escobar's body in the arena before the funeral, filing past the casket through the night Saturday. Some made the sign of the cross over the soccer star's face, others waved soccer banners over the body.
Family members held a vigil, weeping alone or gathering in groups with their arms around each other.
As the sun burned off the dawn haze clinging to the green mountains surrounding this city of church spires, office towers and white Spanish- colonial houses, the line of mourners grew to more than a quarter-mile.
"He was an idol for all of Colombia, and this is the last memory we will have of him," said Miller Vagas, a 29-year-old laborer who waited 2 hours to see the body after getting in line at 6 a.m.
Soldiers wearing camouflage uniforms and toting automatic rifles watched the subdued crowd.
Nearby, children and teen-agers played soccer.
In Colombia, attention is not divided among several sports, but focused only on soccer, and the star players are revered. President-elect Ernesto Samper used an endorsement from a star member of the Colombian World Cup team to help him win election last month.
So Colombia's elimination from the World Cup, caused in part by Escobar's own-goal that led to Colombia's 2-1 loss to the United States on June 22, was a shock. But the murder has shaken this nation even more.
Escobar, in a newspaper column he wrote last Wednesday, called for calm after Colombia's elimination.
"Please, let's maintain respect," wrote the man who was considered the gentleman of the Colombian team for his courtly manners and fair play.
"A big hug for everyone, and let me say it was a phenomenal opportunity and experience, a rare one, which I've never felt before in my life.
"Until later, because life doesn't end here," said the column, which was reprinted Sunday in El Tiempo, Colombia's most widely read newspaper.
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