MIAMI.- The Colombian Football Federation apologized and regretted on Tuesday the disturbances that led to the arrest of its president for almost a day after the final of the America Cup in between Argentina y Colombia and said that its top leader was “overwhelmed” by the chaos and acted “driven by his paternal instinct.”
Ramon Jesurun and his son Ramon Jamil Jesurun were arrested shortly after the end of the game at Hard Rock Stadium and accused of acting aggressively toward guards controlling access to the field. Both were released Monday night, about 20 hours after they were detained, Juan Disgranados, a spokesman for the department that oversees Miami-Dade County jails, told The Associated Press on Tuesday.
The federation president had to pay $2,000 bail and his son $1,000 bail to be released, according to public records shared with AP by Disgranados.
The two face three counts of aggravated assault against a public official after being accused of fighting with several stadium security guards. It is not yet clear when their first court appearances will be.
A total of 27 people were arrested amid the chaos that erupted on Sunday during the Copa America final that crowned Argentina as champion.
The arrest report obtained by AP says that as Jesurun and his son tried to enter the field through a tunnel where reporters were gathered after the game, they were stopped by security and the two “became angry and began yelling” at an officer for the delay. The altercation turned physical and the security guard placed an open palm on Jesurun’s son’s chest to get him to back off. At that point, the father stepped forward, confronted the officer and pushed him, the report said.
The altercation escalated to three stadium security guards, including a woman, according to the police report. It added that the son physically confronted one of them, “grabbed him by the neck and threw him to the ground” and immediately afterward delivered two blows that hit the agent, who remained lying on his back on the ground. He then “kicked him in the head,” the official report explains.
Jesurún Franco has been the president of Colombia’s top football body since 2015 and is a member of the Council of the South American Football Confederation (Conmebol).
In 2020, Jesurún was involved in an investigation known in Colombia as the “ticket cartel,” which consisted of an alleged illegal agreement between the Colombian Football Federation and ticket companies to limit competition for the contract to sell tickets for the Colombian national team’s soccer matches in the qualifiers for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
In 2020, the Superintendency of Industry and Commerce — responsible for monitoring companies in Colombia — fined the Federation and more than a dozen people, including Jesurún, and they had to pay thousands of dollars. Jesurún appealed the decision seeking to have the administrative sanction annulled and remained in his management position.
New version:
In a press release issued on Tuesday, the Colombian Football Federation offered a different version of events.
The federation said Jesurún, his wife, son and grandchildren were part of the entourage that had been invited onto the field for post-match celebrations and that employees of the stadium’s private security “prevented timely and direct access to the pitch… despite being properly identified.”
According to the Federation, members of the delegation, including a relative of the president, made a “vehement” complaint because the start of the awards ceremony was imminent and the response of one of the guards “was a maneuver with his hand that in seconds unleashed aggression and moments of great confusion.”
“Driven by his paternal instinct” because one of the complainants and his son had been “restrained by the guards,” the president of the Federation “rushed to complain about what had happened, but ended up overwhelmed by the situation,” according to the statement from the Colombian federation.
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Jesurún “deeply regrets these events that should never have happened,” the statement said, adding that they were events that led to “a paternal and instinctive maneuver to protect” his family.
Conmebol regretted the incidents in which several fans tried to enter the stadium without a ticket, undermining the brilliance of the final.
Questions about what happened persisted, particularly about how fans were able to enter a venue that will host matches at the 2026 World Cup without having to go through security checks.
Hard Rock Stadium said security was a shared responsibility between stadium managers, Conmebol, the Confederation of North, Central America and the Caribbean (CONCACAF) and local police.
Source: AP
