The prisoner who was forced to celebrate a World Cup victory
Lives Less Ordinary

The prisoner who was forced to celebrate a World Cup victory

B1IntermediateJuly 13, 202639 min

Miriam Lewin was never much interested in football. Growing up in Buenos Aires, she cared far more about politics than the team her family supported. But in 1978, when Argentina won the World Cup, she found herself among the celebrating fans, hidden in plain sight as a political prisoner. A year earlier, aged 19, Miriam had been abducted by Argentina's military dictatorship and became one of the country's desaparecidos – the "disappeared." Detained in secret and tortured because of her political activism, she was later forced to work for the regime, translating foreign news reports and helping produce propaganda aimed at...

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Sentence 10 of 12 · 1:30

The streets of Buenos Aires erupted in joy.

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Everybody was crying, filled with joy.

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0:00

This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. Start with the experience at Shopify.com. Soccer, there is no escaping it at the moment. The FIFA World Cup is great at generating headlines

1:07

and quite often controversy, perhaps never more so than in 1978 when Argentina hosted and won. When they beat the Netherlands to lift the trophy, it was like the whole country went wild.

1:22

The streets of Buenos Aires erupted in joy. Miriam Lewin found herself in a pizza restaurant that was overrun by football fans. Everybody was crying, filled with joy. And I was watching the flags and their faces were painted in white and blue with the claws of Argentina.

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