Like any presumption, it must be agreed that the heading of these lines cannot be taken as an absolute truth. There will be no shortage of people who think that instead of Cuba, the great absentee of baseball from the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games could have been the United States. Or Dominican, or Venezuela.
However, there are reasons to suspect that the Cuban absence has overtones of national tragedy, of collective gravity.
In Cuba, baseball involves capital importance. The gulf that exists between baseball and other disciplines such as boxing, volleyball, athletics, basketball, has no comparison. And it is a historically and culturally sustained reality.
Except for the United States, the country where baseball was born, it took possession among Cubans in an organized way, in the second half of the 19th century. In fact, the professional league was founded in 1876, first than the American League, which is saying a lot.
In 1968, when a census was made in the major leagues of players not born in the United States who had played in the big top since its creation, Cuba with 114 was only surpassed by the 117 of Canada. At least in Latin America, Puerto Rico followed with 31, the Dominican Republic with 19, Mexico with 18, Panama with 16 and Venezuela with 15.
There are other reasons closer in time to imagine the unease that must still accompany Cubans.
The International Olympic Committee excluded baseball from the 2012 Olympics in London and 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, but Cuba won Gold in 1992 in Barcelona, in 1996 in Atlanta and in 2004 in Athens, while finishing with Silver in Sydney 2000 and in Seoul 2008.
However, there are other, perhaps more objective reasons to find an explanation for what happened in the Olympic qualifying round earlier this month, where Cuba was only able to achieve a victory in its group against Colombia, meanwhile it was defeated by Venezuela and Canada.
From the beginning, at first glance things were a series of unexpected difficulties. The United States took longer than normal to grant the entry visa.
Upon arrival, infielder César Prieto, the player with the most projection, left the delegation, and the roster was led by sluggers Alfredo Despaigne and Frederich Cepeda.
It shows how the selection showed a certain stagnation, beyond whether Despaigne was part of the team in the 2004 and 2008 games, and Cepeda also in 2008.
And the most certain reason for the debacle is likely to be found in the economic situation affecting Cuba, which has forced the state to cut the budget designated for sports to benefit other sectors such as health and education.
