Maradona to play match for Colombia's peace process

Yahoo – AFP, 5 April 2015

Argentina's former football player Diego Maradona in Caracas on
February 28, 2015 (AFP Photo/Jaun Barreto)

Bogota (AFP) - Argentina's legendary ex-footballer Diego Maradona will play in a "pro-peace match" in Bogota this month to support Colombia's ongoing peace process, officials said Sunday.

The game will take place on April 10 at Techo stadium in Bogota, and will include other football greats whose names were not immediately released, a statement from the mayor's office said.

The appearance by Maradona, 54, is a big show of support for talks aimed at ending Latin America's longest running civil war.

The Colombian government is negotiating with the Marxist-inspired Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) to end decades of bloody war.

Bogota's mayor Gustavo Petro is a former rebel with the disbanded M-19 insurgency.

The Colombian conflict has killed around 220,000 people and uprooted more than five million since the FARC launched its rebellion in 1964.

Maradona led Argentina to victory in the 1986 World Cup with his famed "Hand of God" goal.

Pope Francis speaks from the central loggia of St Peters' basilica during the

 "Urbi et Orbi" blessing for Rome and the world following the Easter Mass in the

Vatican on April 5, 2015 (AFP Photo/Filippo Monteforte)

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