I read with great pain publications in the Peruvian sports press, in articles that are not signed and that do not cite sources, the appalling baseness of placing Miguel Tudela and Álvaro Malpartida in a kind of moral discredit for simply exercising their freedom and expressing their opinion.

The two surfers mentioned above are among the most outstanding in the world; the few human beings who can do an aerial on a 20-centimeter wave, tube a 15-meter wave, and land bombs on XNUMX-meter waves.

There are very, very few surfers on the entire planet who can do that. Go look at the top 32 on the Championship Tour (the elite of the elite of world surfing) and half of them don't do what those two do, maybe even more than half.

But let's get to the moral: I already read in two newspapers (maybe it's in more) that Álvaro Malpartida did not respect the quarantine in Ecuador where he was locked up because the borders were closed. The man made a mistake and in a video that circulated on social networks he apologized and on top of that, according to what they say, he cleaned the beach (something that he himself should do without anyone else). (it is imposed on him because he lives off the sea).

I ask: Does this mean that Alvaro cannot give his opinion? Does it make the Inkateam less powerful? Of course not!

Then, it turns out that Miguel Tudela receives money from the Peruvian State, and he deserves it! He is one of the best athletes on the planet! I don’t know the ins and outs of what he needs to qualify for that benefit, but I can tell you all that a few months ago he rode two of the best waves of the Hawaiian season (one of them was a finalist for the Surfline winter wave) and in 2019 he finished 63rd in the world in the QS, which puts him in the top 100 overall in the world… How many Peruvians in all sports in the world are among the 100 best in the world?

I don't have to go any further than 2019 to destroy the idea that Tudela has not brought results in the last three years.

But above all that, whether or not he brings results, does it take away Tudela's freedom to express his opinion as he pleases? Of course not! Does the results he has take away the strength of Inkateam? Of course not!

Finally, I am not a moral judge, I am a surf journalist. I know both Alvaro and Miguel, I am not friends with them, but I have been seeing them for about 15 years and I have never in my life failed to perceive kindness, honour and decency in those two human beings.

But this is not about them, it is about this: Since when does a lower or higher ranking or an error take away from a human being their most basic freedom to think and express an opinion?

It is not right to place them in any place of different morality, much less for wrong arguments.

Álvaro and Miguel are two impeccable professional surfing athletes, of the highest moral and ethical level, and they do not deserve to be ignored.