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House, BMW unsold in Maradona auction

AFP

An online auction of some 90 items owned by the late football icon Diego Maradona has closed with a house and BMW unsold, but most other keepsakes spoken for, its organizer said Tuesday.

The December 19 auction had been prolonged by several days after the most expensive pieces failed to attract buyers at first.

The initial, three-hour auction had brought in just $26,000 with more than $1.4 million worth of assets owned by the former Barcelona and Napoli star receiving no bids, according to AFP calculations.

By the end of the new deadline, the Buenos Aires house Maradona had gifted his parents, put up for a minimum $900,000, still did not find a buyer, nor did a luxury 2017 model BMW priced at $225,000.

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Another BMW, a 2016 model, sold for $165,000.

“For the rest, we have received bids” in the second round, which will now be presented to a judge for approval, auctioneer Adrian Mercado of the Grupo Adrian Mercado Subastas house told AFP.

These included televisions, gym equipment and a treadmill.

The auction had attracted bidders from several Latin American countries, Italy, France, Britain, Russia and Dubai.

The largest single offer of $2,150 on the first auction day was for a painting of the former World Cup winner by artist Lu Sedova.

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The second most expensive piece was a photograph of Maradona with late Cuban leader Fidel Castro, purchased for $1,600 by a buyer in Dubai.

Other items sold included a Napoli team jacket, training pants and a box of Cuban cigars.

Mercado said he was optimistic of selling an apartment Maradona had owned in the seaside resort of Mar del Plata ($65,000), for which he was awaiting a formal offer.

He also hoped the second BMW will receive a bid in the coming days.

This would leave only the 700 square-meter (7,500 square foot) Buenos Aires house, on a property with 500 square meters of park, where Maradona’s parents had lived for 30 years.

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The sale had been ordered by a judge to pay the debts and expenses accrued by the estate of Maradona, who died of cardiac arrest on November 25, 2020, aged 60.

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International

Trump urges Putin to reach peace deal

On Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump reiterated his desire for Russian President Vladimir Putin to “reach a deal” to end the war in Ukraine, while also reaffirming his willingness to impose sanctions on Russia.

“I want to see him reach an agreement to prevent Russian, Ukrainian, and other people from dying,” Trump stated during a press conference in the Oval Office at the White House.

“I think he will. I don’t want to have to impose secondary tariffs on Russian oil,” the Republican leader added, recalling that he had already taken similar measures against Venezuela by sanctioning buyers of the South American country’s crude oil.

Trump also reiterated his frustration over Ukraine’s resistance to an agreement that would allow the United States to exploit natural resources in the country—a condition he set in negotiations to end the war.

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International

Deportation flight lands in Venezuela; government denies criminal gang links

A flight carrying 175 Venezuelan migrants deported from the United States arrived in Caracas on Sunday. This marks the third group to return since repatriation flights resumed a week ago, and among them is an alleged member of a criminal organization, according to Venezuelan authorities.

Unlike previous flights operated by the Venezuelan state airline Conviasa, this time, an aircraft from the U.S. airline Eastern landed at Maiquetía Airport, on the outskirts of Caracas, shortly after 2:00 p.m. with the deportees.

Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, who welcomed the returnees at the airport, stated that the 175 repatriated individuals were coming back “after being subjected, like all Venezuelans, to persecution” and dismissed claims that they belonged to the criminal organization El Tren de Aragua.

However, Cabello confirmed that “for the first time in these flights we have been carrying out, someone of significance wanted by Venezuelan justice has arrived, and he is not from El Tren de Aragua.” Instead, he belongs to a gang operating in the state of Trujillo. The minister did not disclose the individual’s identity or provide details on where he would be taken.

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International

Son of journalist José Rubén Zamora condemns father’s return to prison as “illegal”

Guatemalan court decides Wednesday whether to convict journalist José Rubén Zamora

The son of renowned journalist José Rubén Zamora Marroquín, José Carlos Zamora, has denounced as “illegal” the court order that sent his father back to a Guatemalan prison on March 3, after already spending 819 days behind barsover a highly irregular money laundering case.

“My father’s return to prison was based on an arbitrary and illegal ruling. It is also alarming that the judge who had granted him house arrest received threats,” José Carlos Zamora told EFE in an interview on Saturday.

The 67-year-old journalist was sent back to prison inside the Mariscal Zavala military barracks on March 3, when Judge Erick García upheld a Court of Appeals ruling that overturned the house arrest granted to him in October. Zamora had already spent 819 days in prison over an alleged money laundering case.

His son condemned the situation as “unacceptable”, stating that the judge handling the case “cannot do his job in accordance with the law due to threats against his life.”

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