The Caribbean Baseball Series opened February 1 in Puerto Rico, with Cuba excluded, due to pressure from the United States and a deplorable political decision.
Left out of the event at Puerto Rico’s Hiram Bithorn Stadium, was the nation that hosted the first edition of the classic in 1949. Nor do we forget that, in 1966, the U.S. government denied Cuban players visas to participate in the Central American and Caribbean Games in Puerto Rico, an injustice that led to the historic Cerro Pelado adventure, when athletes reached Puerto Rican soil on this ship to compete in friendship, while besieged by U.S. aircraft.
The Series began, and despite the decision to exclude Cuba, Anaymir Muñoz, vice president of MBSports – the company promoting the competition – made the shameless assertion that, “We are doing everything possible to ensure that the Caribbean Series does not become political.”
For fear that fans would demonstrate against the hardship Puerto Rico has suffered under the administrations of former Gov. Roberto Rossello and now Wanda Vazquez, “People who insist on bringing signs that violate this code of conduct will not be allowed to enter the stadium, and those fans who display them inside the facilities, and refuse to remove them, may be removed from the stadium, if they do not comply with the first warning.”
The Puerto Rican people have not forgotten that amidst the destruction and despair left in the wake of Hurricane Maria, with almost 3,000 people dead, U.S. President Donald Trump appeared on the island throwing rolls of paper towels to the victims.
Anaymir Muñoz attempted to argue that this code of conduct in the Caribbean Series was not related to the demonstrations that “some” Puerto Ricans have held over the last year against Rosello and Wanda.
What is Muñoz worried about?
“Since foreign countries are coming, we are going to try to avoid it… We are going to try to make the series a sporting event, cultural, friendly, not political,” he insisted.
Do the Puerto Rican people, by any chance, believe him?