2024-03-02 02:59:15
Text: Editorial Cuba Noticias 360
The president of the Caribbean Professional Baseball Confederation, Dominican Juan Francisco Puello Herrera, said that until Cuba resolves its political problems it will not return to the Caribbean Series.
The CBPC Commissioner’s statements to ESPN occurred days before the start of the 2021 Caribbean Series in Mazatlán, Mexico, which entered the semifinals this Friday.
“Cuba is something different. It’s a topic I don’t touch on much anymore because it’s an uncomfortable topic. Anyone who knows me knows that I don’t like politics or politicians. “My thing is sport,” said Puello Herrera, who has considered himself the main promoter of Cuba’s reincorporation into this traditional tournament in 2014, after a long Cuban absence of several decades.
The 2016 contest, in Santo Domingo, served for the bizarre escape of the Gurriel brothers, Yuliesky and Lourdes, who found a beaten path to the Major Leagues after the warning that the INDER agreement with the Major Leagues would be torpedoed by the new President Donald Trump, as it happened. Cuba was one of the founders of the CBPC and dominated the first stage of the Caribbean Series (between 1949 and 1960), winning seven of 12 versions, but left the entity when Fidel Castro in 1961 banned professional sports, including baseball. .
Cuba returned to the Caribbean Series as a special guest in 2014 and even won the 2015 edition in Puerto Rico with the Vegueros, from Pinar del Río with Alfonso Urquiola as manager, who is back in the Mazatlán contest with the Chiriquí team from Panama.
In recent years, the Cubans have tried unsuccessfully to regain their status as a permanent member of the CBPC, but several clauses are still under discussion, and currently, with the strong disagreements, it does not seem that the negotiations will reach a successful conclusion.
After five consecutive participations in its comeback, Cuba was absent in the 2020 edition in San Juan, Puerto Rico, due to visa problems, a situation that caused a serious conflict between Puello Herrera and the Cuban Federation, not yet settled as confirmed reality.
The Cubans accused Puello Herrera of negligence in the visa procedures, criticisms that the Dominican categorically denied while blaming Cuban federations for the negligence and clarifying that the United States provided all the facilities.
“Cuban sport is also attacked by the empire.” The Cuban president, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, wrote on social networks. As a result of the conflict, Cuba was left out of the 2020 and 2021 Caribbean Series and its place was occupied by Colombia.
“Cuba is an issue that has to do with politics. When that country resolves its political issues, then we will see Cuba again. In the meantime, that issue will remain calm,” Puello Herrera told ESPN.
It is not ruled out that the Cuban Federation may issue an opinion regarding the statement by the president of the CBPC, although according to some sources close to the offices of the Latin American stadium, the priority for the island’s authorities is to reactivate the frozen agreement with Major League Baseball. by Trump and then we will see how the doors of the Caribbean Series will open again.