By SUN MEDIA
The Edmonton Sun, Canada. August 5, 1999
A Winnipeg newspaper has received 700 entries to a competition challenging readers to guess the number of Cuban defectors by the end of the Pan Am Games Sunday.
The contest in The Winnipeg Sun, a sister paper to The Edmonton Sun, has drawn media attention throughout the continent and an entry from Manitoba MLA Conrad Santos.
The winner's name will be drawn next Tuesday and the prize is airfare to Cuba and a week's hotel accommodations for two this winter.
Meanwhile, Cuban President Fidel Castro, hinting at an easing in his country's strained relations with Canada, yesterday praised Foreign Minister Lloyd Axworthy for congratulating Cuba's victorious baseball team.
At the end of a marathon speech to the nation, Castro related how Axworthy had given his personal congratulations to Cuba's national baseball players after they won gold at the Pan American Games in Winnipeg.
"There is no doubt that it constitutes a good gesture ... it really was a constructive gesture, a gesture that we take into account," Castro said.
Last week, Castro slammed the Canadian organizers of the Pan American Games for unprecedented "tricks and dirtiness" to prejudice Cuba while helping Canada and the United States.
The head of the Cuban delegation has also slammed the media and sports agents for supposed efforts to get athletes to defect during the Games.
However, while Castro softened his stance on the issue, his brother and designated successor, Raul Castro, is still steamed at media coverage of the defections.
"Look how the big press reflects the successes of our sportsmen.
"They are sons of b-----s in the globalized press, but we kicked all their asses," he said Tuesday on Cuban TV.
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