Take me out of the ballpark in Cuba

Cubans love of baseball, just as ours here in the states, was born as a national expression of  love for individual freedom and independence.  It represents the exhilarating hope of personal success that requires the kind of opportunities only found in a free society where the rule of law supports the rights of the individual.

Before the revolution, great Cuban players such as Orestes “Minnie” Minoso, Luis “El Tiante” Tiant, and Adolfo “The Pride of Havana” Luque, to name a few, were able to enjoy their professional careers as well as playing during the off season back home in Cuba.

Castro ended those glory days of professional baseball in Cuba when he nationalized the sport along with all Cuban owned businesses and made private enterprise illegal. Post revolution players have been forced to choose between love of country, family, and their sport or to settle for playing for a tyrant at slave wages and a few elite perks denied their fellow countrymen. The most trusted players are allowed the luxury of international travel, but only as captive prisoners looking outward from the barless cells of dugouts and hotel rooms. Their families are kept behind as insurance against un-revolutionary behavior, or more embarrassing and costly to the regime, defection. One can imagine the fleeting exhilaration that playing MLB professionals in tournaments like the World Baseball Classic must bring. Imagine the rush of victory after hard won games on fields outside Cuba, and the letdown that must follow when, unlike their counterparts living in democracy, they must hurriedly return to Cuba under tight security.  There are no nights out on the town, or time off to explore the host country. Theirs is a world of dual reality, the face presented to the public, and the private hell of living under the watchful eye of Cuba's SS style state security. The agents are always present, the games equivalent of the CDR, who make sure they do not taste too much tempting capitalism, or defect.

When they can’t stand the repression any longer they make plans to escape, to leave Cuba—an act that is against the law. According to the Castro regime, the players are the property of the state and have no right of self-determination. However, leave they do, every chance they get. The usual official Castro regime response when players defect includes a complaint that the US is “buying” its players. What a poor excuse for the 50 year exodus of Cubans from all social strata to the US by any means possible. It is the most telling measure of the lie that is Castro’s failed revolution.

Here is a partial list of the players from CubaNet,  who made the heartbreaking choice to leave Cuba. Every single one of them left behind not only their homeland, but also friends and family. Each of these men are someone’s son, brother, spouse, lover and friend.  You know they are missed:

 

Noel Arguelles

Jose Antonio

Jose Contreras

Orlando “El Duque” Hernandez

Kendry Morales

Ivan Alvarez

Jesús Amettler

Rene Orocha

Rolando Arrojo

Danys Báez

Félix Isasi Bustamante

Juan Carlos Bruzon

Alexis Cabreja

Robert Colina

Juan Carlos Díaz

Osmani Estrada

Osmany Fernández Herrera

Osvaldo Fernández

Osmani García

Adrián Hernández

Alain Hernández

Alberto Hernández

Alexis Hernández

Livan Hernández

Michel Hernández

Odalys Hernández

Orlando Hernández

Rigoberto Betancourt Herrera

Manuel Hurtado

Maikel Jova

Angel López

Juan Medean

Joel Monzón Mejia

Neylon Molina

Vladimar Núñez

Edelberto Oropesa

Rey Ordóñez

William Ortiz

Brayan Pena

Josue Pérez

Ariel Prieto

Nataniel Reinoso

Larry Rodríguez

Euclides Rojas

Osmany Santana

Francisco Santiesteban

Yalian Serrano

Jorge Luis Toca

Ramón Valdivia

Julio Cesar Villalon

 

 

Cuba’s tightly controlled state structure is incompatible with the game of Baseball. Its very essence is that of the individualistic “can do” spirit born from the freedom and independence historically shared by both Cuba, and the U.S. We dream of the day when once again, those roaring cheers from the crowd in Cuba are heard both for a favorite team, and freedom.

Read more Cuban Baseball Facts at Bloggers United for Cuban Liberty.

Comments

[companioni]

good article ziva. euclides rojas is the name we could'nt remember as the red sox bullpen coach who won yet another world series ring as a cuban escapee. adding to the collection of real rings and not fifo's fugazi rings that cuban baseball players have won In exile.