Ángel Di Maria’s family receives death threat in Argentina

Argentine police and prosecutors are investigating an anonymous death threat to soccer star Ángel Di Maria, made Monday morning in his hometown of Rosario.

Staff at the Funes Hills Miraflores condominium, where the World Cup winner usually resides, said they found a package containing a death threat against Di Maria's family if he returned to play for one of the clubs in the city.

The 36-year-old winger for Benfica in Portugal recently said he could play again for his boyhood club Rosario Central. He is currently in the United States touring with Argentina.

“This kind of threat causes a lot of social unrest and that is their goal: to frighten the population and hit public figures,” Esteban Santantino, who works in security for the local government, told Todo Noticias television channel.

Rosario has been rocked by waves of violence between rival drug trafficking groups. The city's homicide rate is 22 per 100,000 residents, well above Argentina's average of 4.2 per 100,000 residents.

The city is home to one of the largest agro-port hubs in the world and has seen an intense increase in violence from drug trafficking groups, with Rosario being, according to experts, a potential outlet for illegal drugs to d 'other countries.

The violence in Rosario affected another World Cup winner a year ago. Unidentified gunmen shot at a supermarket belonging to a relative of Lionel Messi. They also left a message saying: “Messi, we are waiting for you.”

The Argentine government announced last week that it would send a bill to Congress to allow the armed forces to intervene in internal security operations aimed at combating drug trafficking and crime in Rosario.

Information from Reuters and the Associated Press was used in this story.