Cottaro says Maradona care break came days after home hospitalization
Carlos Cottaro told the Maradona death trial he was removed from the home care team just days after the home hospitalization began, a move that adds another disputed step to the case over Diego Maradona’s final months. The accompanying therapist said he had stayed with Maradona from when he woke up after surgery until November 11.
Cottaro and Maradona
Cottaro said he had a good relationship with Maradona and that they used to talk, sing and watch football together. He also said they sometimes fought and then made up, describing a relationship that was close enough for regular contact and direct work after the head surgery.
He said doctor Mario Schiter called him to be with Diego after the operation. Cottaro added that he believed nobody understood how important the accompaniment was and said, “Yo creo que nadie sabía de la importancia que tiene el acompañamiento.”
Cosachov and the removal
The break came, in his account, when Agustina Cosachov told him one day to make an impasse and he was never called again. “A mi Cosachov me dijo un día que hagamos un impasse y nunca más me volvieron a llamar,” he said. He added that his brother, also an accompanying therapist, heard the same thing.
Cottaro said he was surprised when he was displaced. He also said he believed the entourage thought Diego was bothered by too many people around him, and he quoted the message he heard about the situation: “Que le habían dicho que era mucho, que Diego estaba molesto por tanta gente.”
Home care under scrutiny
The testimony landed in a trial described as entering a stage of “todos contra todos,” with seven defendants accused of homicide simple with eventual intent. The prosecution had summoned two accompanying therapists who had been removed from Maradona’s home care shortly after he was installed there.
Cottaro also described the house where Maradona stayed until his death as a “veraneo” house with a “chiquita” staircase that Maradona could not pass through. He said everyone who entered had to leave their cellphone outside by order of the entourage, another detail that points to how tightly the home stay was controlled.
With the care team already a point of dispute, Cottaro’s testimony sharpens the question of who was in charge of day-to-day decisions around Maradona’s home hospitalization in Tigre. The case also includes the eighth accused, nurse Gisela Madrid, who will be tried later in a separate jury trial.
