El Israelita: the story behind a trip that lasted four days and 40 hours by bus to encourage the national team

***

Chauca Quispe divides his affections based on two incandescent fires: the national team, on the one hand, and FREPAP, an acronym for Frente Popular Agrícola FIA del Perú, whose main project – reads its official website – is to “turn Peru into a an eminently agrarian country product”. You can go to discuss the feasibility of the plan, also called Froteras Vivas, at the address where its headquarters are located, Lampa 1048-1050, in Cercado de Lima. It is possible that El Israelita will also be there, whose faith is sustained by two equally controversial, equally charismatic men: the Teacher and ideologue of the Political Party Ezequiel Ataucusi Gamonal, who founded FREPAP on September 30, 1989, and in the footballer Christian Cueva, who next Tuesday, September 7, 2023, will see on television if Juan Reynoso’s team debuts with a win, a draw or an adverse result against Paraguay, a rival where he, Cuevita, six years ago He became a mini god.

***

In November of last year, a brief and no less painful piece of news appeared on ATV: El Israelita had suffered an accident. Well, actually he had been a victim. Immediately, a crusade was mobilized for him. The reasons? He was in the bad, where nobody was, or very few: I remember with some masochism the times of the last team in the Qualifiers heading to South Africa, when nobody crashed the Teleticket website nor did Pamelas Cabanillas exist for resale. I also remember that the Israelite -it was not yet a high degree to call someone “Peru fan”-, was stationed at the door of La Videna that leads to Aviación avenue, with a FREPAP flag and another of the national team, his two cults. As I was saying, Chauca believes in a new pact between Christ and the Tawantinsuyo represented in Don Ezequiel, the Andean Christ, in the same way that he believed in Ricardo Gareca’s team, the rocky movements of Aldo Corzo and the patriotic dedication of Yoshimar Yotún .

That is why he traveled and traveled to follow the team. He arrived at Russia 2018 and reached the playoffs heading to Qatar, an extravagant land where he -he said- he felt comfortable from his look and beliefs. The tickets to the matches, he says, were given to him by the Peruvian ambassador there, in a gesture of diplomacy and political character that exalts him.

And although he crossed the world to follow the national team and never had a scratch, and sold masks or candies to support himself, a wild driver in Cieneguilla turned what was a 20 km/h ride home in his motorcycle taxi, into a tragedy .

“I hardly do it,” the man who never stopped walking said that morning to the ATV camera, bedridden, surrounded by pain pills. The vehicle invaded his lane and ended up colliding with him. He is out of danger but he needs a tomography, pay for his medicines and recover the only work tool he has: his mototaxi, that national symbol.

And since he has faith, after weeks, he stood up. And today he is in Ciudad del Este to once again encourage the team.

***

“Thank you, friend”, the Israelite writes to me in the Instagram chat, after proudly displaying a poster that predicts a different future: “NOTICE, IN PERU THE MESSIAH EZEQUIEL JONÁS RISES UP”. It refers to the son of Ezequiel Ataucusi, the patriarch. He, along with Niño Cóndor, Inca Sixto, the Ghost of 69, will be part of the 2,000 Peruvians who will be in the stadium this Thursday. A photo on the Instagram wall of Jampool Cuadros, a reporter for América Deportes and a regular collaborator with DT, reveals his smile. No one really knows how these three fans got the $100 per ticket that costs to enter Ciudad del Este. It doesn’t matter. It matters that they are When it comes to football, the national team, everything that mobilizes, it only matters that the fans are there.