Maradona arrives to start treatment

The former soccer star could be returned to Argentina.
HAVANA (AP) -- Diego Maradona returned to Cuba on Monday to resume treatment for cocaine addiction after a relapse confined him to a psychiatric hospital in his native Argentina and sparked unsuccessful attempts by his family to keep him at home.
Maradona, 43, was greeted by dozens of journalists after arriving here on a commercial flight following a stopover in Panama on the trip from Buenos Aires.
Dressed in blue slacks, a cotton shirt in pastel stripes and tennis shoes, Maradona declined to address reporters, greeting them only with a hasty "good night" before he smiled and left.
Itinerary
Argentina Ambassador Raul Taleb earlier told reporters that Maradona would spend his first night at Havana's Center for Surgical Medical Investigations, a prestigious hospital known by its Spanish acronym as CIMEQ. There, he was to undergo a general medical checkup before starting drug treatment at another facility.
Maradona's return to Cuba capped a weekslong drama in Argentina that played out in nationally broadcast TV interviews and court battles with his relatives over how and where to continue his treatment.
He even appealed last month to Argentina President Nestor Kirchner to help him leave the country.
Maradona has been repeatedly hospitalized over the last four years, most recently in April when doctors said he was suffering from a weakened heart and severe breathing problems.
Since then, Maradona has received treatment in a Buenos Aires psychiatric hospital, where he had been held under strict orders by his doctors and family before being released earlier this month.
An admitted cocaine addict and standout of the 1986 World Cup, Maradona had been barred from leaving Argentina after family members initially blocked his early efforts to return to Cuba. He has said he prefers treatment in Cuba because of greater privacy.
In Cuba, Maradona is to stay in the National Center for Mental Health, a sprawling complex of individual houses with red-tile roofs in a quiet, palm-tree lined area of western Havana where his movements will be restricted.
The center is in the same neighborhood where President Fidel Castro, who has characterized himself as a friend and admirer of Maradona, is said to live.
While undergoing treatment in Cuba in the past, Maradona stayed at the upscale La Pradera health tourism resort, where he could come and go as he pleased and invite people to his guest house.
But Maradona was not expected to receive any special privileges in Cuba this time around. He could be returned to Argentina -- and even lose his property there -- if he fails to follow the court-ordered treatment plan.
Copyright 2004 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.