WORLD CUP USA 1994 : World Cup Is Positively The Best Event for Them
Nieves Caron hears the talk, and it hurts.
As the Bolivian wife of a professor at the University of Delaware, she spends most of her time around academics who should know better.
But still, she hears the talk.
Oh, so you’re from Bolivia? Isn’t that where they make all the cocaine?
Caron attended a recent World Cup match with her husband, not only to cheer her soccer team but to celebrate that, finally, perhaps the people of the United States will see something different.
Instead of cocaine, perhaps they will see cheerleaders in native headdresses.
Instead of drug lords, they will see youngsters painted in green, orange and red, bobbing and chanting for hours
Instead of seeing stereotypes, they will see people.
And maybe next time they see her at the supermarket and think of her homeland, who knows, maybe they will actually say something nice.
“Bolivia being here may not be too important to the United States,” Caron said. “But for the United States to see us like this . . . it is very important to us.”
As millions of immigrants here have learned during the first week of the World Cup, no event in recent history has done more for battered images.
One expert said that no country has benefited as much from these games as Mexico. Anybody mesmerized by the daring of goalkeeper Jorge Campos and the energy of Mexico’s thousands of fans would agree.
“I have Mexican-American friends who are thrilled to see that Mexico is being talked about for something other than illegal aliens or strikes in the field,” said Jay Coakley, sociology professor at University of Colorado in Colorado Springs.
“For once, Mexico is seen as being one of the world’s elite. And for once, they are being treated in the media as such. This is a tremendous benefit, not just for them, but all countries.”
For once, too, some are realizing that North and South Korea are not the same countries. That the South Koreans are not the people with the militaristic government. That South Koreans are not the bad guys.
Han Byung Nam, a Long Island businessman, said his native land is benefiting.
“For once, people are seeing Koreans when they are happy,” he said.
Just as people are finally talking to Dr. Boris Murillo about something other than their illnesses.
Murillo, who left Bolivia four years ago, heard the oddest thing upon arriving at work on the day after Germany had defeated his country in the World Cup opener.
“Hey, sorry about you guys yesterday,” a colleague told him. “But we’ll be cheering for you next week.”
Imagine that, Murillo thought. Somebody in his new country rooting for Bolivia.
Beats the heck out of those jokes about Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
