President of Colombian Football Association will not face criminal charges after arrest at Copa

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – Charges against Ramón Jesurún for punching a security guard at the Copa America final were dropped Monday, more than a month after the president of the Colombian soccer federation and his son were arrested at the game where hundreds of fans forced their way into Hard Rock Stadium.

Michael Band, a lawyer for Jesurún, 71, said prosecutors decided to drop the assault charge after carefully reviewing the evidence. Charges remain against Jesurún’s son, Ramon Jesurún Jr., whose trial is scheduled to begin in November.

“I welcome the prosecutor’s review of this case,” said Band, who represents both men. “Hopefully we can reach an agreement on a resolution for the younger Jesurún as well,” he added.

Jesurún and his son were both charged with three counts of assault on a referee after they were accused of fighting with stadium security staff following Argentina’s victory over Colombia in the Copa final on July 14.

READ MORE: President of the Colombian Football Federation and his son among the 27 arrested in the chaos at the Copa America final

Arrest records show that both men attempted to enter the field through a tunnel where media were gathering after the game. They got into a verbal altercation with stadium security personnel, who stopped them after being instructed not to allow guests in while players were entering or leaving the field.

The verbal argument eventually escalated into a physical altercation. A guard put his “open hand” on Jesurún Jr.’s chest to “pull him back.” The younger Jesurún then grabbed the guard “by the neck,” dragged him to the ground and “punched him twice,” according to the police report.

Video evidence did not show that the elder Jesurún had physical contact with stadium security or other employees during the fight, Miami-Dade Assistant District Attorney Charles Heinemann wrote in his closing memo.

Heinemann wrote that one of the security officers involved, who had told police officers that Jesurún had beaten him, had not shown up for preliminary meetings scheduled by the state and had “not answered our calls and emails.”

Without the security guard’s “affidavit and clarification of his role in the incident, the state will not be able to bring charges,” Heinemann wrote.

Before the Copa America final, chaos broke out when hordes of fans, some without tickets, stormed into Hard Rock Stadium. The crowd jumped over security railings and ran past police and stadium staff into the stadium.

Jesurún has been president of the Colombian Football Federation since 2015 and vice president of CONMEBOL, the South American football confederation that organizes the Copa America tournament.

The stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida, home of the NFL’s Dolphins, will host seven World Cup matches in 2026, including a quarter-final and a third-place match.

___

Associated Press writer Joshua Goodman contributed to this report.

Want more stories about America? Sign up for WLRN’s Americas Report newsletter and we’ll send you a summary of the most important news and stories from around the hemisphere every Thursday morning. Register here.