weekly newsletter - corruption in national football team
TRANSCRIPT
CORRUPTION IN OUR NATIONAL
FOOTBALL TEAM!
August 29th, 2013
After investigations conducted by local and international media, in the recent days Salvadorans have witnes-
sed a situation that stains the already deteriorated situation of nationall football.
According to investigations, several of our national football team players have had encounters with (and
have been bribed by) mafias involved in match fixing. These mafias bet on very specific aspects of a game
(the final result, when the goals are scored, number of players expelled) and bribing players is a way to re-
duce uncertainty and increase profitability.
More tan twenty players are being investigated and some have even fled the country to avoid facing justice.
Moreover, there are increasing rumors that these corruption cases may not be limited to players, but also
include the coaching staff and those working for the Salvadoran Football Federation (FESFUT).
Players involved: While investigations are conducted, FESFUT has temporarily suspended the following players: Luis
Anaya, Osael Romero, Ramón Sánchez, Cristian Castillo, Eliseo Quintanilla, Miguel Granadino, Miguel Montes, Dago-
berto Portillo, Rodolfo Zelaya, Víctor Turcios, Carlos Monteagudo, Dennis Alas, Alfredo Pacheco, Marvin González,
Mardoqueo Henríquez, Carlos Carrillo, Darwin Bonilla, Rodrigo Martínez, Reynaldo Hernández, Ramón Flores, “Benji”
Villalobos y Emerson Umaña.
Legal implications: Fiscalía General de la República (Crime prosecuting agency) has raided the homes of players alle-
gedly involved in match fixing to find evidence of illicit enrichment. The General Prosecutor stated that, if found guilty,
players could be accused of fraud and money laundering.
Miguel Montes, involved
in the corruption scheme,
fled the country.
Roger Valdivieso, lawyer and sports com-
mentator of Telemundo in Los Angeles, says
about this case:
“The world of football is not an autonomous enti-
ty in our society (…) Our society regularly inter-
acts with corruption.”
“In a country in which ‘leaders’ are capable of everything, and
that’s the example they set, is it surprising that others are corrupt?”
“There may have been incompetence in the leaders of FESFUT. The-
re may have also been bad intentions. Either they are too incompe-
tent or have been profiting from national football.”
“Accountability is very low. We decide to ley others worry about
the functioning of our institutions and nobody requests informa-
tion. That feeds corruption: the apathy of its citizens.”
WHY DO THESE THINGS HAPPEN
IN EL SALVADOR?
Before making a decision of breaking a rule
or not, an individual takes into account the proba-
bility of being caught, the severity of the punish-
ment if caught and the probability of enforcing
such punishment.
Football is not the only situation in which co-
rruption exists. In our political class, for example, it
is very common to see public servants incurring in
illicit enrichment.
If we want to end the culture of corruption,
we must end impunity in every single area. Nor do
politicians, athletes or any salvadoran have the
right to be corrupt!