President Luis Lacalle Pou was part of the tribute match that was played this Saturday on the courts of the Old Christians club, that was part of the Commemoration for the 50th anniversary of the Tragedy of the Andesthe plane crash that occurred in the Cordillera in 1972 in which 29 people died, while another 16 survived after 72 days in the mountains.
The president’s visit took place prior to the game, and Lacalle Pou greeted the survivorsamong whom were Roberto Canessa, Fernando Parrado, Roy Harley and Carlos Páez Rodríguez. The president photographed himself and talked with them, in an event that also had a skydiving show and a helicopter landing on the playing field, in which the trophy of the special edition of the Friendship Cup arrived in dispute.
Leonardo Carreno
Lacalle Pou in the tribute of Old Christians with Roberto Canessa
The trophy is the award for the winner of this friendly in which the rugby match that could never be played against the Chileans of Old Grangonians in 1972, when the Air Force plane fell in the mountains, is played.
Lacalle Pou entered the field of play and in addition to talking with the survivors and with those who came to greet him, he also played with a ball that was passed to him by the organization, and even threw some passes that caused some jokes from those present.
Leonardo Carreno
Lacalle Pou in the tribute of Old Christians
The president also spoke before the public present and expressed his reasons for choosing to participate in the event. “A month ago I called Gustavo (Zerbino) and told him that this moment could not go unnoticed by the Uruguayan state. For me it was very important institutionally and personally to be present,” he said.
“There are many ways to approach this fact, some call it a miracle, others luck and human will, it is something that generates admiration for those who survived and silence and respect for those who remained on the mountain,” he added.
Leonardo Carreno
Lacalle Pou in the tribute of Old Christians
Lacalle Pou stated about the survivors that “I know many of them personally, I know the story that does not remain in the books, and I know of the help, the advice they have given to everyone they have met in their lives. those who, as Carlitos (Páez) says, have their own mountain. All of Uruguay, and surely humanity, have to bow down out of respect for life, which was what prevailed in the end,” the president concluded.
Lacalle Pou with the Old Christians shirt
After his speech, the president received as a gift from Old Christians a plaque and a t-shirt signed by the survivors of the tragedy, which he put on his shirt, while he made some jokes about Christians’ rivalry with the Old Boys, the team of alumni from the British school, which the president attended.
Leonardo Carreno
Lacalle Pou in the tribute of Old Christians with Carlos Páez Rodríguez
The meeting has been held annually since 1974, one year in Chile and another in Uruguay. Activities have been added over the years, and this year it will involve more than 1,500 people, with rugby, hockey and soccer matches of different categories.
The event includes the match between the survivors of the accident against their rivals from that time. In that match, the symbolic kick-off was in charge of the president of World Rugby and world rugby legend, Sir Bill Beaumont, who will be in Uruguay for the first time invited by Gustavo Zerbino, survivor of the accident and former president of the Uruguay Rugby Union , as well as winner of the “spirit of rugby” award in 2002 along with fellow survivor Roberto Canessa.
Leonardo Carreno
Lacalle Pou in the tribute of Old Christians
