Pele's surge to global superstardom overlapped with the rise of Brazil's Cold War-era military regime, which ruled the South American country with an iron fist from 1964 to 1985. The legendary player was photographed rubbing shoulders with the likes of dictators Emilio Garrastazu Medici and Ernesto Geisel, two of the most hardline generals to preside over a regime that killed or "disappeared" hundreds of people. Clutching his World Cup trophies and grinning alongside the generals, the black footballer also drew criticism for his silence on racism, at a time when Brazil -- the last country in the Americas to abolish slavery -- was presenting itself to the world as a harmonious "racial democracy." FRANCE 24's correspondent in Rio de Janeiro Tim Vickery, FRANCE 24's Sports Journalist Jean-Emile Jammine and Eurosport's journalist Ruben Slagter tell us more.
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