The Minister of Education and Culture, Pablo Da Silveira, assures that the Villa Española sports club violated the founding statutes by making political demonstrations through its social networks, and allegedly supported the option “Yes” in the last referendum against the Urgent Consideration Law (LUC).
“The club’s statute has an article (article 5) that says that the institution has to totally refrain from any political or religious pronouncement, and that activities of that nature should not be allowed on the club’s premises. I don’t know why the issue of the disappeared is being given so much prominence,” Da Silveira said at a press conference on June 24.
“The point that set off the alarms and that generated the complaint is that, on the field, that is, in the club’s facilities, players, with a team that had the club’s shield, signed against the LUC, they were photographed, that was It went up to the networks, and the authorities (of the club) did nothing at that time, so that is a departure from the club’s statutes, “he added.
LARED21 reviewed the club’s official social networks to determine if it is correct to state that political demonstrations were made from the institution.
The missing
We found a series of recent publications, between 2021 and 2022, in favor of the search for the disappeared, which is not a cause considered political or linked to any political partybut is understood as a matter of human rights and that demands “truth, memory and justice”, as its historical slogan says, to know where those who have not yet appeared are.
It is known that Villa Española has adhered to this cause, and photographs have even been published in which you can see t-shirts from the painting together with photographs of the disappeared and members of the Mothers and Relatives of Uruguayan Detained-Disappeared collective.
In the last two years, they have published various photos on their Twitter account and their Facebook fanpage in which you can see calls to participate in the Marches of Silence, as well as fans of the team with photos of missing people in the stands while a match is held.
In a tweet October 2021, you can see a mural with a slogan for the search for the disappeared, along with a drawing with the slogan “neighborhood culture”, used officially by the club, which appears by chance in one of several photographs that record the visit of the Las Hormiguitas Children’s Club to the Obdulio Varela stadium. In this no demonstration is made in favor of the cause of the mural.
“An honor to be able to contribute a grain of sand, like so many other sports clubs, in the search for #VerdadMemoriaYJusticia,” reads another tweet from the May 16, 2022, which shows a group of people holding club shirts and photos of missing detainees. Relatives were at the event, among which María Bellizzi, an illustrious citizen of Montevideo, stood out. looking for his son Andrés Humberto Bellizzi Bellizzidisappeared in Argentina in 1977.
Four days later, on May 20, they published on the occasion of the day of the March of Silence 2022: “We already did it on the court, now we return to the street to ask for truth, memory and justice. We win this game when they tell us where they are. The truth is still hidden. #MemoryVilla #MayMemoryMonth #MarchofSilence2022 #Present”. Photographs of players in their uniforms and people holding banners with the faces of the disappeared accompany the message.
We went until May 2021, finding that banners were seen with slogans for the disappeared in the meshes of the Obdulio Varela. For those days, they went out on the field with a bracelet that reaffirmed the fight.
sexual diversity
During the anniversaries in which sexual diversity is celebrated, Villa Española usually changes the cover image of its social networks to include a club shield accompanied by the colors of the diversity flag.
In September, when Uruguay celebrates the Month of LGBTIQA+ Diversity, the Villa has joined this human rights cause that seeks that people from these groups obtain equality before society, the same rights as heterosexual people.
In that month of the year 2021 -as in other years- he changed his cover photo on Facebook and on Twitter, as can be seen in this post on the 13th of that month. “It is this new #DiverseSeptember, Villa Española is once again #VillaDiversity. #NeighborhoodCulture”, Said the club when they placed that profile picture.
In June of that same year, when worldwide Pride Month is celebrated for sexually diverse people, players took to the field wearing rainbow flag armbands that read: “Socially equal, humanly different and totally free.”
It is more than established that this particular fight is not political and is not related to any political party, beyond the fact that some sectors of the spectrum adhere more than others.
By March 8
Another of the fights for human rights and equality in which the team has been a part is that of March 8, International Women’s Day.
Every year, millions of women march around the world on this occasion demanding to have the same rights as men, the closing of the gender gap and for tougher actions against femicides. They also ask for access to the right to abortion, which in many countries is still prohibited.
“We are the cry of those who have no voice,” reads a hand-painted banner, published on the team’s Facebook on March 8, 2021.
“We are not silent anymore,” reads another purple parade-type banner, which identifies this fight in particular.
“All women in all neighborhoods,” says another parade published on the club’s fanpage, in front of which a group of women of various ages pose.
The Constitution of the Republic says in its article 29 (from section II: rights, duties and guarantees; chapter I): “The communication of thoughts by words, private writings or published in the press, or by any other form of disclosure, without the need for prior censorship; The author and, where appropriate, the printer or issuer, being responsible under the law for the abuses they commit.
