Héctor 'Caramelo' Chávez, during a match for the Mexican team at the U-20 World Cup in Poland.SOPA Images (LightRocket via Getty Images)
If you look at the videos of Mexico in the World Cups from 1986 it is exceedingly likely that you will see a man with a mariachi hat and a Mexican flag that says Chihuahua.
Within the mass of thousands of fans who can attend a World Cup, this wandering fan known as Caramel has gained fame for being in the stands closest to the television cameras.
Yes, among all the faces that can appear on the screen, Caramelo's is recognizable.
He has already collected 478 Tri matches, including World Cups, Copas América, Gold Cups and friendlies.
An unconditional fan like the Spanish Manolo el del bombo or the Brazilian Gaúcho da Copa with his eternal replica of the World Cup.
Héctor Chávez (Chihuahua, 59 years old) was eight years old when he watched the 1970 World Cup in Mexico on television.
His father, who worked in the trade, was invited to one of the parties.
“In one of the approaches of the cameras I had to see it on television.
Wow!
Someday Caramelo must be there, I told myself," he told EL PAÍS.
His goal was, at all costs, to get on television.
“It was like an obsession, going for all the marbles,” he adds.
His big moment came 16 years later when he chose to go with his father to the World Cup instead of a trip with his college buddies.
Chávez, recently graduated in Administration, did not want to know about parties, he wanted to encourage Hugo Sánchez and company.
Thus began his business.
“There were many Mexican flags.
My dad had the idea of naming it Chihuahua because that way our neighbors and acquaintances at home could locate us if we were focused on television.
Outside the country, many foreigners believed that it was the Italian flag or later they asked me if Chihuahua was a reference to the name of the dog”, says Héctor Chávez.
He earned the nickname Caramelo because, as he explains, that's what his classmates called him in primary school.
Chávez has financed his trips and tickets to the games in Mexico first thanks to a jewelry business on Calle Libertad, in Chihuahua.
“The time of violence in the country [2010] came, the jewelry business was very susceptible to robbery, very risky.
He made me uneasy ”, he mentions to tell that now he is dedicated to the real estate business.
His insistence on supporting the Mexican national team opened the doors for him with the Mexican Football Federation which, in the days of Decio de María, allowed him to travel on the same private plane as the soccer players.
"Don't think it was free, they sold me the ticket to travel on the charter because I had good behavior, according to them," he explains.
Now, under the mandate of Yon de Luisa, the policy changed and they are not invited because "each administration is different."
Caramel, invited to the draw for the group stage of the World Cup in Qatar.
Shaun Botterill (Getty Images)
Arrested for “insulting” Hugo Chávez
Caramelo went to support Mexico in their Copa América quarterfinal match at the Monumental de Maturín stadium, in Monagas, Venezuela.
It was 2007. That day El Tri won 6-0, but of those goals only a few scenes.
Chávez and his relatives decided it was a good idea to wear latex masks of then-President Hugo Chávez and his political nemesis, George W. Bush.
“Chávez's had donkey ears.
In the stands we simulated a fight between the two politicians, which caused grace and euphoria.
Suddenly we began to hear the Venezuelans shouting 'And it's going to fall, and it's going to fall' [in reference to the Chavista government].
I answered them, as if I were the president, that they peeled me.
More caught on, ”he recalls.
At half time, members of the Army tried to remove Hugo Chávez's mask.
Between the struggle and the help of other fans, the mask was left in the hands of its peculiar owner.
Three days later, in Puerto Ordaz, in Bolívar, a group of people offered Caramelo tickets to see Argentina-Mexico, but it was a hoax.
Agents arrived to detain him for 12 hours.
“I apologized.
In other countries there was freedom of expression, it was easy for us to do it in Venezuela.
They took us to a cell, psychologically I was devastated.
They let me go, but I was under surveillance until I left the country.
I asked the Federation to be able to travel back with them,” says Caramelo, who assures that thanks to the press he was able to escape from the authorities.
Despite this tense episode, Caramelo acknowledges that his biggest fears are his country's elimination from the World Cup.
“The one that I will never get over was against the US in 2002. We couldn't lose against the gringos!” He says.
20 years later, his selection still hasn't made a big leap, although Caramelo can now tell his story not only on TV, but also on TikTok, where he is already one of the great icons.
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