Cuba still has a serious problem with the mixture of sport, politics and economics. There is no year that deserters from the Caribbean country do not arise for one of the three reasons stated or a combination of all of them. spain It is one of the usual places where athletes from this nation appear, but there is a very important sport for Cubans that has a great impact on USA: the baseball. They are very good with the bat and the ball. That’s why there are big stars in the Major League Baseball (MLB).
The simplest way for them to get there as a youngster is to drop out. That’s why every time there’s a big championship, hitters, pitchers and catchers flee. The latest case happened this past week during the U23 Pan American Baseball Championship in Mexico. Two players, the catcher Alfredo Fadraga23, and pitcher Yosvani Avalos21, left the concentration of his selection during a day of rest.
Both, as happened a year ago in the World Cup in the same category with 11 Cuban players also in Mexico, took the opportunity to try to cross the border. They did not succeed, they were arrested in Aguascalientes and deported to their native Cuba. It is not known what will happen to them. In 2018 the MLB and the Cuban Baseball Federation (FCB) reached an agreement so that the players from the Caribbean nation did not have to defect, but Donald Trump he threw it down.
New information from the Cuban Baseball Federation
Nothing and no one will prevent us from continuing to work towards triumphs and happiness for our people.https://t.co/ch8S6gBNID pic.twitter.com/fWOtQrapwY— JIT Cuban Sport (@jit_digital) June 18, 2022
The political, economic and social situation in Cuba is critical. It is also for baseball players who want to succeed in this sport. The road to the border with the United States is the usual before the siren songs of big contracts with MLB teams. Their Cuban patriotism disappears, being considered traitors to the country and in some cases leaving their families at the mercy of the government.
The Castro regime continues to be an obstacle for the sport. Professionalism was prohibited in 1961 under the premise of non-commodification, for encouraging, according to the regime’s guidelines, “the enrichment of a few.” In search of greater opportunities and better living conditions (the average salary of a Cuban athlete on the island is 39 dollars a month since 2014), bloodshed has been unleashed since the 1980s through acts of escapism.
[Por qué los deportistas de Cuba huyen a España: “No somos desertores, queremos una vida mejor”]
For many athletes, a trip abroad was the only viable opportunity to build a life outside of Cuba. However, since the provision of new immigration regulations in 2012, athletes can request a special permit that allows them to leave the island to work abroad. However, a large majority still choose to leave during outdoor competitions rather than face a bureaucratic process that does not guarantee their exit.
In 2014, the Minister council approved an insufficient remuneration policy. The incentive is calculated based on the category. The Olympic medalists, who occupy the top of the scale, will be entitled to receive a salary equivalent to 62 dollars per month, independent of bonuses and prizes that could amount to 3,547 dollars, if they win the gold medal. Members of the national baseball team and those affiliated with the local league charge 42.
MLB dream
For this reason, and because it is the best baseball league in the world, players continue to take advantage of any international competition to try to reach the United States and carve out an opportunity. The largest defection in number occurred in 2021. Cuba identified nine, but in Mexico it was explained that up to 12 of the 24 young people who made up the Cuban team took advantage of the U23 World Cup to defect.
At 20 years old, they represent the future of Cuban baseball and are tasked with putting Cuba at the top of the sport after the island failed to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. It was the first time that this modality was going to have a gap in the program and the only way they had to qualify lived through these decisions to drop out. From the Caribbean country, the only thing they did was accuse the MLB of practices equivalent to human trafficking.
[El boxeo en Cuba vuelve a ser profesional: fin a la ley de Fidel Castro que provocó huidas a España]
The reality is quite different. As long as those multimillion-dollar contracts and endorsements are available just 90 miles from Cuba, defection will remain a painfully tempting option for any aspiring baseball star. The most famous player to defect recently was Cesar Prieto, 22, one of the country’s top baseball stars. As long as there is no agreement between MLB and the Federation, there is no other option.
already with Joe Biden in power in the United States, this April 2022 Cuba explained that the US government continues to put obstacles to that agreement. Miguel Fragaofficial of the United States Directorate of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, explained that the current administration has done nothing to resume negotiations. Cuban baseball players who want to carve out a future for themselves seem to continue to have the only option to renounce their country.
