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Anti-Castro Sign Stirs Baseball Classic
By Andrew Selsky, Associated Press Writer, March 10, 2006.
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - While Cuba played the Netherlands in the World Baseball Classic, a spectator in the stands raised a sign saying: "Down with Fidel," sparking an international incident that escalated Friday with the velocity of a major league fastball.
The image of the man holding the sign behind home plate was beamed live Thursday night to millions of TV viewers — including those in Cuba. The top Cuban official at the game at Hiram Bithorn Stadium in San Juan rushed to confront the man.
Puerto Rican police quickly intervened and took the Cuban official — Angel Iglesias, vice president of Cuba's National Institute of Sports — to a nearby police station where they lectured him about free speech.
"We explained to him that here the constitutional right to free expression exists and that it is not a crime," police Col. Adalberto Mercado was quoted as saying in El Nuevo Dia, a San Juan daily.
Local organizers of the tournament responded by banning posters of a political nature, but a top police official said his officers would not enforce the ban.
"The police of Puerto Rico will not interfere at any time with any type of expression," Puerto Rico Police Chief Pedro Toledo said.
The brouhaha gathered steam Friday when Cuba's Communist Party newspaper, Granma, called the sign-waving "a cowardly incident." Cuba's Revolutionary Sports Movement exhorted Cubans to demonstrate in Havana late Friday.
One of the protesters who showed up in front of the U.S. diplomatic mission in Havana bore a sign that said: "Down with Bush." Star Cuban athletes were among the hundreds of protesters. An official Cuban communique urged the Cuban team to "respond to the provocations with hits, home runs, strikes, outs."
The Cuban Baseball Federation, in a statement released Friday in San Juan, said authorities failed to provide security and preserve the spirit of the sporting event. The Cubans nonetheless decided to remain in the tournament after Puerto Rican promoters made guarantees, the federation said in a statement without elaborating.
An anti-Castro Web site, therealcuba.com, identified the protester only as Enrique, and carried his account of the incident.
Enrique said that during the warmup, he flashed another sign denouncing Castro — this one saying "Baseball players yes, Tyrants no" — to the Cuban leader's son, Tony Castro. Tony Castro is the Cuban team doctor.
"He looked down and kept walking and I shouted 'Eso es para tu papa' (That is for your dad). ... I know he heard that," Enrique said, according to the account in the Web site.
Mercado said the spectator, and a second one who also waved signs, had tickets for the section behind home plate, but had moved out of their seats closer to the view of the TV cameras. Cuban state TV was showing the ESPN signal and the anti-Castro signs were briefly visible on television in Cuba.
Police later told the pair to return to their seats, Mercado said, adding that Iglesias was never under arrest.
"The Cubans were upset with the incident that happened last night, and they want to make sure it doesn't happen again," said John Blundell, spokesman of Major League Baseball, which helped establish the tournament.
Cuba downed the Netherlands 11-2. Cuba has also beat Panama in the first round of competition.
Associated Press writer Anita Snow in Havana contributed to this report.
Cuba to Open Four Caricom Embassies
AP, March 10, 2006.
GEORGETOWN, Guyana - Cuba will open embassies in four more Caribbean countries — a move that will give it a diplomatic presence in all 15 Caribbean Community nations, a Cuban official said Friday.
The embassies — in Antigua, St. Vincent, Dominica and Suriname — will open in about a month, said Alejandro Merchante Castellanos, Cuban ambassador to the 15-member Caribbean Community.
"We will be completing all the countries of Caricom," Castellanos said. "This is a decision of our country to develop relations with all of them. The integration of the Caribbean is very important to us."
Cuba's relations with Grenada and Suriname soured in the 1980s but the communist nation has earned praise from its Caribbean neighbors for its humanitarian work in the region.
Caricom has consistently voted in the United Nations to end the 46-year U.S. economic blockade of Cuba.
Cubans rout Dutch to advance at World Baseball Classic
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, 10 (AFP) - Yoandy Garlobo and Osmani Urrutia each homered and reigning Olympic champion Cuba routed Netherlands 11-2 to qualify for the second round of the World Baseball Classic.
The victory also clinched a second-round berth for Puerto Rico, which like Cuba is 2-0 in Pool C.
Puerto Rico and Cuba will meet Friday to determine which will be the higher seed when they play in second-round games here starting Sunday against Dominican Republic and another qualifier from Pool D, likely to be Venezuela.
Randall Simon hit a two-out, bases-loaded single in the sixth inning to pull the Dutch within 6-2 but Urrutia smacked a three-run homer in the seventh as the Cubans answered with four runs in the frame to extend their lead.
Yoandy Garlobo added a run-scoring single in the ninth to provide Cuba's final run and complete a 16-hit barrage.
Garlobo's two-run homer ignited a four-run fourth inning for Cuba, which also got run-scoring singles from Ariel Borrero and Michel Enriguez in grabbing a 6-0 lead.
Yulieski Gourriel hit a run-scoring double and crossed the plate himself on a Borrero double to give Cuba a 2-0 lead in the first inning.
Cuba Wins World Baseball Classic Opener
By Pedro Zayas, Associated Press Writer. March 8, 2006.
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - Cuban and Panamanian fans brought their flags and hopes to Hiram Bithorn Stadium expecting a good show. Cheered by a handful a raucous fans, the favored Cubans nearly lost the game during a ninth-inning meltdown, then bounced back win their World Baseball Classic opener 8-6 in 11 innings.
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Panamanian fans jumped in the stands and waved their flags when their team scored twice in the ninth to tie the game 6-all. Panama nearly won it then, leaving the bases loaded, but couldn't come back again after pinch-hitter Yoandry Garlobo's go-ahead single in the 11th.
"The whole team is prepared mentally and physically, and any one of us could have done the same," Garlobo said.
Ruben Rivera hit a three-run homer for Panama (0-2), which trailed 6-4 in the ninth and loaded the bases with no outs against the Olympic champions.
Yunieski Maya struck out Freddy Herrera, but Olmedo Saenz blooped a single to center. Carlos Lee then struck out, but Maya forced in the tying run when he hit Sherman Obando on a hand with a pitch. Rivera followed with an inning-ending flyout.
"This was our first game, the one that gave us butterflies and we are happy that we were able to break the ice with a victory," said Yulieski Gourriel, Cuba's star second baseman.
Panama's starting pitcher Bruce Chen said he admired the dedication of Cuba.
"They do the small things that need to be done to win," Chen said.
Gourriel went 3-for-4 with a home run and four RBIs.
"I was very impressed with him," Chen said. "If he ever gets the opportunity to play in the big leagues, I feel he would do a great job at that level."
Gourriel had similar words for Chen, who gave up two runs and four hits in five innings.
"Bruce Chen is a great pitcher and for me it's an honor to face a pitcher of that caliber," the Cuban shortstop said.
Panama is playing without Yankees closer Mariano Rivera, who decided to skip the tournament.
"If Mariano were here there's no doubt that we would have had a much better chance to win," Chen said. "But Mariano made a decision and he isn't here, and we were ready to do our best with the players we have."
Michel Enriquez started Cuba's go-ahead rally with two outs in the 11th against Jorge Cortes when he was hit by a pitch for the third time in the game. Gourriel walked, and Garlobo singled to center. Frederich Cepeda followed with another RBI single.
Maya got the win and Yadel Marti, Cuba's fifth pitcher, got three outs for the save.
Rivera's three-run, opposite-field homer to right off Vicyhoandry Odelin put Panama ahead 4-2 in the sixth. Cuba tied it in the seventh on Eduado Paret's RBI single and Gourriel's sacrifice fly, then went ahead in the ninth on Gourriel's homer against Manuel Acosta.
Cuba plays the Netherlands on Thursday and Puerto Rico on Friday. Panama's only remaining game is against the Netherlands on Friday.
Mexico Tightens Security for Cuba Migrants
By Mark Stevenson, Associated Press Writer Tue Mar 7, 2006.
MEXICO CITY - The Mexican government said Tuesday it was stepping up security at detention centers for illegal Cuban migrants after a group of detainees fought police officers and held a guard against his will — the seventh uprising or mass escape by Cubans in a year.
Officials also will deny political asylum to those involved in the latest conflict.
"After these acts, changes will certainly have to be reviewed to increase the level of security" at immigration holding centers like the one in Mexico City where a dozen Cubans rioted and briefly took over the facilities Monday, presidential spokesman Ruben Aguilar said.
The riots are fueled in part by the fact that most Cubans are forced to wait for months inside decrepit Mexican detention centers. The Cuban government often delays recognizing them as a means of punishment for their attempt to leave the island, Mexican officials say.
The Cubans involved in Monday's uprising were demanding they not be returned to the island, saying they feared reprisals there. Eight Cubans were injured in the scuffle, though their injuries were not life-threatening, the government said in a news release.
All seven major incidents at Mexican immigration detention centers in the past year involved Cubans — including riots, and a mass escape in July.
Yet the estimated 500 Cubans detained each year make up a tiny fraction of the approximately 250,000 undocumented foreigners detained in Mexico annually.
Most of the detainees are Central Americans, and they are usually released to their home countries in two days or less. But officials say Cuba takes much longer to react.
The Cuban embassy in Mexico did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the issue.
Karina Arias, coordinator for the migrant rights group Sin Fronteras, said that slow consular responses were a factor in keeping Cubans — and a few other nationalities — in detention centers for long periods.
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