Are Uruguayans in denial over Suarez?
As Luis Suarez gets a hero’s welcome in Uruguay despite biting Italy’s Giorgio Chiellini at the World Cup, we look at how a 19th century general who fought the British is inspiring a nation.
Suarez was given a nine-game international ban and a four-month suspension from all football for biting the Italy defender in Brazil. In Montevideo supporters gathered at the airport to show their allegiance to the striker, who was due to arrive after leaving the team’s hotel in Brazil.
“Football is very important in Uruguay,” Gustavo San Román, professor of Spanish at the University of St Andrews, told Channel 4 News. “There is blind support for Suarez, like a father defending his son,” he added.
The Uruguayans still see Britain as a powerful country with a strong colonial past . Professor Gustavo San Román
A Uruguayan TV station also accused the English of a conspiracy, claiming it only became an issue about biting when British journalists asked questions in the post-match press conference.
Professor San Román, who was born in Uruguay, added: “The Uruguayans still see Britain as a powerful country with a strong colonial past. Uruguayans have always had to find a space for themselves. They were the buffer state between Brazil and Argentina. TThey are a rebellious, and proud, country.”
José Gervasio Artigas
In Uruguay, many supporters are now comparing Suarez to Gervasio Artigas, a general who fought against the first British invasions of the Río de la Plata in 1806, on the border between Argentina and Uruguay. Artigas – who is seen as a “the father of Uruguayan nationhood” – took part in the military expedition in Montevideo to drive the British out of Buenos Aires in Argentina.
When I run out of men to fight his followers, I shall fight them with wild dogs. José Gervasio Artigas (1764-1850)
After the liberation of Buenos Aires, he was tasked with returning home to defend a second British attack aimed to capture Montevideo. Artigas was taken prisoner, but he managed to escape and returned to the countryside. He then organised groups of gauchos and began a guerrilla war against the invaders.
The British tried to capture Buenos Aires a second time, but were defeated by the local armies and the Montevideo contingent, and returned Montevideo to Spanish control. Artigas was promoted to captain in 1809.
En el natalicio del paraguayo de artigas nació un nuevo procer en #URUGUAY . Luis #Suarez pic.twitter.com/1CfOBt3qFj
— Martin alayon (@tinchoalayon) June 19, 2014
‘Fight to survive’
In a similar vein, Luis Suarez became a national hero when he scored two goals against England in Brazil on 19 June. The date coincided with the 250th of anniversary Artigas’s birth. On social media his face was also photoshopped onto the body of Artigas.
Professor San Román told Channel 4 News: “Artigas responding to the Brazilian invader who proposed he should surrender as he was running out of men once said: ‘Tell your general that when I run out of men to fight his followers I shall fight them with wild dogs’.
“It is this instinct of survival that categorises Suarez and Uruguayans. Suarez himself came from humble backgrounds and had to fight to survive against the odds.”
‘Charrúa claw’
A reflection of how much supporters have rallied behind Suarez can be seen in an open letter from a fan on Uruguayan newspaper LaRed21.
The fan, who makes reference to the Charrúa people – an indigenous people of Uruguay – wrote: “Luis please, I beg you on behalf of all Uruguayans who know you: stand firm. You have shown to all of us women and men of Uruguay that it is possible. That in the face of adversity our Charrúa claw comes through”.
A Uruguay fan-base blog added: “What is the Charrúa claw. The dictionary definition is: winning despite mountainous expectations of the contrary. However, this concept, and what Suarez represents on the pitch, is very different from the conventional ideas of ‘never giving up’ or ‘trying very hard’.
“It is a romantic belief to winning, supported by a century worth of fables about near impossible football feats. Each of these fables have been passed down generation after generation… from grandfather to father… father to son… and son to grandson”.