Diego Maradona has promised his friend Fidel Castro that he will head an anti-Bush march in Argentina next week during a visit by the American President to a regional summit.

The former Argentinian World Cup hero made his pledge to the Cuban leader on television in Havana yesterday. "I think Bush is a murderer. ... I’m going to head the march against him stepping foot on Argentine soil," Maradona said.

President Bush will be in Mar del Plata, Argentina, as part of a summit of leaders from the Americas next week. Señor Castro, 79, has not been invited.

The former Barcelona player was in the Cuban capital to interview Señor Castro for his weekly popular Argentine television show, La Noche del 10 (The Night of 10), a reference to the former player’s football shirt number.

Señor Castro, dressed in his typical olive green uniform, used his appearance to expound on a variety of subjects, from regional politics to Hurricane Wilma's assault on the Caribbean island this week.

Maradona, 44, has labelled the Cuban President as "the greatest one who decides things in the world". He regards Señor Castro as a friend and a father figure who helped him to kick his cocaine habit. Maradona has a house on the island as well as a tattoo of Señor Castro's face on his leg.

Maradona’s star is rising once again in Argentina with his weekly television show. He has successfully beaten a drug addiction and a stomach-stapling operation has cut his ballooning weight. This is not Maradona's first foray into politics – he was an outspoken critic of England during the Falklands war.

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