A KNEE to the groin may not be quite Machiavelli, but it was no less effective for Evo Morales in asserting his presidential authority over an opponent at the weekend.
With one deft movement, Bolivia’s combative leader felled an opponent in a football match against a team of political rivals. The receiving player crumpled in agony holding, as local media put it, his “testicular zone”.
The incident, during a match on Sunday to inaugurate a renovated stadium in the capital, La Paz, was captured on video and aired on local TV stations on Monday night and uploaded on to YouTube.
The friendly match started when, wearing a No 10 green jersey, Morales, a football fanatic and Bolivia’s first indigenous president, led his team of bodyguards and officials on to the artificial pitch.
The yellow team was led by Luis Revilla, mayor of La Paz and a political ally turned enemy.
Within five minutes of kick-off, Daniel Gustavo Cartagena, in the No 2 jersey for the mayor’s team, scythed into the president after he passed the ball, gashing his right leg. Morales then kneed him in the groin.
The match deteriorated into a bad-tempered contest, with four players sent off.
One bodyguard tried to arrest Cartagena after the final whistle, a newspaper reported.
It was not clear if Cartagena was a member of the mayor's political party, Movement Without Fear. – ( Guardianservice)