Bezos: the historic bond that united the millionaire owner of Amazon to a River crack from the 30s

Villafrechós is a small Spanish town in the province of Valladolid, in the region of Castilla y León. It used to have nearly 2,000 inhabitants by the end of the 19th century. By 2022 it will reach 500. There is a surname that is repeated: Bezos. Those of the millionaire owner of Amazon, the second fortune in the world, and also of an emblematic figure of the River in the 30s, when the club eventually earned the nickname Millionaire. Jeff and Joaquín did not meet but they have a historical bond with each other.

Salvador Bezos, Jeff’s grandfather, was born in Villafrechós in November 1906. A few years later, he left with his parents for Cuba. Then, he returned to town and left again and settled permanently in Santiago de Cuba. Teodoro Bezos, Joaquín’s father, was born in the same town but in April 1879. He was 27 years old when Salvador was born. He still lives there. It is likely that in a small town, the old man and that baby crossed paths at least once. Teodoro, a farmer, arrived in Argentina aboard the ship Zaaland from the port of Barcelona on May 9, 1908.

Teodoro fell in love with Bonifacia Manuela Herrero Girón in that small town full of almond trees and a beehive. Bonifacia arrived in Argentina aboard the ship Navarra from the port of Vigo on November 14, 1908. Two years later, on March 13, 1910, Joaquín Bezos Herrero was born in Buenos Aires.. He started at a Siete de Oro neighborhood club, to make his Primera de River debut at the age of 19, on December 29, 1929, against Estudiantes de Buenos Aires (2-0) at the Ferro field.

Already in Cuba, Salvador met Cesárea Pérez Cortés and in 1947, in Santiago de Cuba, Miguel Angel Bezos Pérez, Jeff’s adoptive father, was born. After the revolution led by Fidel Castro in 1959, Miguel Bezos left the island in July 1962 as part of Operation Peter Pan, which through the intervention of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the Catholic Church in Miami and several exiles facilitated the removal of minors. Michael is 15 years old. Her parents accompanied her to the Havana airport and separated for many years.

Jacklyn Marie Gise is a teenager in AlbuquerqueNew Mexico (the main town of the successful series breaking bad Y Better Call Saul), when Jeffrey was born on January 12, 1964, as a result of his early marriage to Dane Theodore Jorgensen. They separated the following year. The Amazon owner has almost no memory of his biological father.

“My father is my real father, not my biological father. his name is mike. He is a Cuban immigrant. He came here as part of Operation Peter Pan, ”Jeff explained in 2018 in a conversation with billionaire philanthropist David Rubenstein at the annual meeting of the Washington DC Economic Club.

Joaquín Bezos is a classic past, who can play right or left. That game against the Estudiantes, which he played on the left, was his only appearance in 1929. The following year, meanwhile, he played five games. Bezos was an alternative as a central marker in the early 30s, at the beginning of professionalism. In total, he played 52 games, did not score goals and was on the squad for the eight titles River won between 1932 and 1937, although he only played 4 games in the conquest of the 1937 First Division tournament.

Miguel, Mike, ever since he moved to America, he met Jacklyn when Jeff was a baby.. They fell in love, got married, moved to Houston, and raised the boy as himself, who has since adopted his last name: Jeff Preston Bezos. They then moved to Miami and young Jeff went on to study Computer Science and Electrical Engineering at Princeton University, where he graduated in 1986. In 1995 he founded the bookstore Cadabra.com, later Amazon. In addition, he is the majority shareholder of The Washington Post and the aerospace company Blue Origin. He is a mega-millionaire, his fortune is worth 200 billion dollars.

Joaquín was a starter in the last game River played at the old stadium at Avenida Alvear (now Libertadores) and Tagle, on December 5, 1937 against San Lorenzo. And also in the first official against Monumental, on May 29, 1938, against Independiente (2.4). That was his last fight at the club. In addition, he played in the second half (he entered for Cilenio Neck) at the inauguration of the great stadium, on May 26, in a friendly against Peñarol (3-1). That was his last two games on Millionaire. On July 13, his contract ended, and then he went to Defensores de Belgrano, a club where he only played 9 games.

One week later, on July 20, 1938, an extensive three-page report by journalist Edmundo A. Mhor appeared in the magazine Short, Bezos admitted that when he was a freshman he became a bronzer: “I can’t remember the job. If necessary, I have to start studying it again, to be practical. When I have to give up football, I have to work hard and even the bronzes… ”. That was his last year as a professional footballer. In 1947, at age 37, he was still playing for the River veterans. Then his name disappeared in time like many other players.

In 2011, Jeff visited his adoptive father’s hometown. He is a week. He tried to rebuild the family tree, he sought out relatives of his grandfather Salvador. The Spanish newspaper ABC rebuilt that visit in 2013. They spoke to Félix, Salvador’s nephew, and to Fidencio, Félix’s nephew, who said: “Félix’s uncle went to Argentina, many people emigrated from in this town, with some. touch. “Did Salvador Bezos go to Argentina first? Did it get to the Bezos-Herrera house? Just speculation. Later, he got to Cuba and another story began.

In the XXI century, almost as a curiosity, there is an alliance of millionaires. In January of this year, River signed an agreement with Amazon Prime, whose major shareholder is Jeff Bezos. Since 2022, all of River’s official products have been offered in Amazon stores in Spain, France, Great Britain, Germany and the United States. And soon, Bezos ’company name will likely be seen on the sleeves or pants of professional teams.

Osvaldo Martínez is Argentine and he always hears his mother talking about a soccer cousin. His grandmother Paula had a sister, Bonifacia, Joaquín’s mother. He wanted to know if this Bonifacia had the surname Herrero, like his grandmother Paula, and if he was from Villafrechós. So the question came to Clarion, trying to reconstruct that part of the story, which remained pending after contact with their direct relatives, the Redondos and the Herreras. In the contacts he made, especially the mayor of the town, he obtained the family tree of Bezos. The branch of Salvador, Jeff’s grandfather, and Teodoro, Joaquín’s father, came together in the 1700’s in Villafrechós and also in Palazuelo de Vedija, another small town six miles[10 km]away. The ancestors of the 17th century did not know that they were creating millionaires in the future.

The head of the Bezos family