BY OLYMPIA NEWTON
BALTIMORE - In what became a political, diplomatic, and
athletic victory for Cuba, the Cuban national baseball team
played the Baltimore Orioles in an exhibition game here May 3.
The game itself was a sound defeat for the Orioles, who lost 12-6. Cuban relief pitcher Norge Vera kept the Orioles hitless for almost seven innings, after stepping in during the second inning. Despite a rain delay that took the game until almost midnight, supporters of the Cuban team remained in the stands until the end, waving Cuban flags and chanting "Cuba, sí! Bloqueo, no!"
From the beginning, the U.S. government and other opponents of the Cuban revolution tried to keep this game and the teams' March 28 match in Havana from being a success for Cuba. The Orioles won the earlier game 3-2, in 11 innings.
As of May 1, Washington was refusing to issue visas to about one-third of the 335-member delegation from Cuba. Cuban officials issued a statement to the U.S. State Department May 1, saying that Cuban participants "feel deceived and offended" over the visa denials. It continued, "Under these conditions, we will be forced to cancel the game." The State Department changed its course late that night, issuing visas to the entire delegation.
U.S. officials pulled out all the stops to try to get Cuban players to defect. The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) said most of its local staff would be on hand during the game "to handle possible defections." Orioles owner Peter Angelos then banned INS agents from the ballpark.
In response, Baltimore's INS director, Ben Ferro, told the Baltimore Sun, "We will have to find other ways to do what we need to do," including setting up a 24-hour telephone hotline to handle inquiries by members of the delegation and others.
Baseball agent and businessman Joe Cubas, who has made a dubious career of trying to buy off Cuban baseball players, was among those offering multimillion-dollar contracts to any member of the Cuban team who would defect. Only one person of the 335-member delegation defected.
Cuban-American rightists had projected having thousands of protesters in front of the stadium opposing the games. But all that materialized was a demonstration of 300 opponents of the Cuban revolution that took place at the main entrance to Orioles Park at Camden Yards. They were mainly Cuban-Americans from Miami, Florida, and Union City, New Jersey. These right- wing demonstrators, who had announced earlier that they would disrupt the game through a variety of actions, including throwing blood on Cuban players, urged ticket holders to boycott the game. The almost 50,000 tickets were sold out, however.
Opponents of the Cuban revolution also staged a couple of provocations inside the stadium. During the fourth inning, three rightists ran across the field, one with a T-shirt reading "Freedom for Cuba. Forty years is too many," referring to the 40th anniversary of the 1959 revolution which brought workers and farmers to power on the island. Police arrested the men.
In the fifth inning, one more man ran onto the field with an anti-Cuba sign and T-shirt, to boos from the crowd. The rightist yelled at Cuban umpire César Valdez, who was in back of second base. Valdez picked him up, threw him to the ground, and proceeded to teach him a lesson. "Above all I am Cuban," a Cuban official later told the press what the umpire had said. "And there is no reason for me to stand for such a lack of respect."
There were no further interruptions after that. All four provocateurs were arrested and released after being given citations for criminal trespass. No one was arrested other than the four right-wingers. Police did kick out 19 audience members for various reasons, however, including holding up signs opposing the U.S. embargo against Cuba.
Nearly 300 people gathered outside of a side entrance to the ballpark to welcome the Cuban national team and oppose the U.S. embargo against Cuba. Participants came from as far away as Santa Cruz, California, to support Cuba both outside and inside the game. There were two vans of supporters from Miami and a bus from New York.
Speakers included Delvis Fernández of the Cuban-American Alliance and Education Fund; Sally Davies, president of the Association of Federal, State, County, and Municipal Employees Local 1072; Bill Goodin, an anti-police brutality activist in Baltimore; Joaquín Trujillo of the Antonio Maceo Brigade of Miami; and Marianne Peterson, a Cuban-American with the Maryland Coalition to end the Embargo against Cuba.
Oscar Ochotorena, president of the Alliance of Workers of the Community (ATC) in Miami, also addressed the rally. He began his remarks by referring to the successful celebration of May Day, the international workers holiday, in Cuba. He continued, "Sports is an important manifestation of culture. We of the ATC are here to support this game, which has a historic meaning."
He added, "We want the best team to win but, from the bottom of my heart, I want to say, let it be Cuba! Cuba, yes! Culture, yes! Baseball, yes! Blockade, no!"
Olga Rodríguez contributed to this article.