Baseball Musings: Cuba Problems

December 18, 2005

Cuba Problems

Jack Curry of the New York Times looks at what went wrong with Cuba's invitation to the World Baseball Classic (WBC). It turns out Cubans had no problem competing in a soccer tournament called the Gold Cup:

Chuck Blazer, a general secretary for Concacaf, said that the organizers had paid Cuba for travel, meals, lodging and other costs during the Gold Cup. Blazer added that the Cubans were not paid for participating in the event because that would have violated the Cuban embargo.
Jim Scherr, the chief executive of the United States Olympic Committee, said the baseball officials had violated State Department rules in organizing the World Baseball Classic. Scherr said he was hopeful that Major League Baseball and the State Department would agree to a compromise that allowed the Cubans to compete.

"Obviously, it's not a positive development for U.S. international relations, either for the Olympics or in general," Scherr said. "It's just not a good thing for the U.S. in international sports."

Scherr said baseball officials had not consulted the U.S.O.C. about how the tournament was arranged and how to deal with Cuba. Scherr said it was "much too early" to determine if blocking Cuba in baseball would influence a future Olympic bid.

Posted by David Pinto at 07:30 AM | World Cup | TrackBack (0)

Comments

Kevin Baxter of the Miami Herald says he never thought
Cuba would've ended up in it anyhow. When the Cuban
team played here in 1995, 46 of them defected, which
ticked off Castro.

Posted by: susan mullen at December 18, 2005 04:21 PM

i would love to see cuba play in this tournament. glad it is in san diego. my former town.

Posted by: colin at December 19, 2005 11:20 PM

re: communist cuba and nearly communist venezuela

actually, i for one though I beleive cuba is the heart and soul of the caribbean and belongs to the USA once castrol dies, right now is a communist country and should be embargoed in every way by the usa.

what's bad now is that Chavez of Venezeula is holding up oil because he is also a communist and wants to hurt us at the gas pump lines.

we need to get rid of both of these communists.

I wonder when the Republican Party made terrorism their #1 priority and forgot about the war on communism, which is hurting us more badly, and about the Monroe Doctrine, which makes this hemisphere ours and free from foreign domination by communism and other foreign influences.

--arthur john kyriazis

Posted by: arthur john kyriazis at December 20, 2005 06:11 PM

Not allowing Cuba to play in the WBC will prove everyone who calls the event a sham correct. Having a baseball world cup without Cuba would be like having a football (soccer) world cup without brazil. Cuba has produced some of the best players in MLB (Livan and Orlando 'el duque' Hernandez, Raffy Palmeiro, Alex Sanchez, Jose Contreras, Jose Canseco, Rey Ordonez + many more)

I also belive that politics should be kept out of that, but also realize that is nearly impossible. Barring Cuba hurts our international standing (not like that matters anymore) and hurts even more our chances of ever hosting the olympics again anytime soon.

What threat is Cuba to the most powerful nation in the world? It intrigues me so much why our government is so afraid of such a small, isolated, impoverished island nation. Why are Cuba's communist policies such a big deal anyway? The US activley trades with China and Viet Nam (both communist). The US also aligns itself with countries who have much worse human rights abuse track records than Cuba (China, Saudi Arabia- neither of which are 'free democratic societies')

George w Bush once called Cuba one of the last 'outposts of tyranny.' This outpost of tyranny that he refers to produces some of the finest doctors in the world. Cubans enjoy universal healthcare (we don't). Cuba has the highest literacy rate in the world and the lowest homelessness rating. In the wake of hurrican katrina Cuba offered to send doctors to the gulf coast ( a generous offer that was stubbornly turned down by bush).

On the subject of the embargo: While it may have been a good idea at the time, in case anyone hasn't noticed- the cuban missle crisis is over and the soviet union has been dismantled. The mean spirited embargo only hurts the Cuban people, not Fidel. Cubans are forced to buy necessary items such as medicine and medical equipment from all the way around the world (Japan) and pay the expensive shipping costs when everything they need is readily available only 90 miles away.

I recently visited Cuba with a group called Pastors For Peace, who have annually defied the blockade for the past 15 years by breaking the travel ban and bringing humanitarian aid, and was blown away by the warmth and hospitality shown to me by the Cuban people. I also witnessed firsthand their love for the game of baseball. Not allowing Cuba to compete because of a 40 year old grudge is a crime and a shame to our country and our pastime.

Cuba Si~ Bloqeo No!

Posted by: tony flynn at December 20, 2005 08:16 PM

the usa problem is to losse face infront of their people who they lie saying this play baseball is from usa but in fact is cubans and its name is batos and we cubans play it from the beginning of the times even long time before unhappily Cristobal Colombus arrived to the land more beautifull that humans eyes are ever saw let us play if we loose you will know the sport spirit but cubans knows better we don"t loose and we will kick your MC DONALS ASS

Posted by: castrocubano at January 3, 2006 10:42 AM