The 64th National Baseball Series suffered interruptions again this weekend due to an outbreak of viral diseases that affected several players, including the three receivers of the Granma team, as confirmed by official sources and independent journalists.
Mayabeque sportswriter Wilber Pastrana posted on i social media on Saturday, in which he communicated the suspension of matches scheduled for the weekend at the Nelson Fernández stadium.
“Last minute! There is no game either today (Saturday) or tomorrow (Sunday) at the Nelson Fernández stadium. Various Granma athletes are ill. Among them, the three receivers of the team… The health of the athletes will always be the priority,” wrote Pastrana, without specifying the type of illness that affects the athletes.
The suspensions, according to the vehicle Cubanet and other reports, are linked to the epidemiological crisis affecting the country, where viruses such as the dengue, you zika il chikununyawhich has generated outbreaks in several provinces and sectors.
A sick country: baseball, victim of health collapse
Miami-based journalist Mario Pentón confirmed that an outbreak of arbovirosis —a term for diseases transmitted by the Aedes aegypti mosquito— has affected several players, forcing the suspension of games.
“The 64 Serie Nacional faces new suspensions due to an outbreak of arbovirosis that affected several players, including the three receivers of the Granma team,” wrote Pentón in his social.
The health situation is not limited to baseball. The National Ballet of Cuba it also canceled its weekend performancesafter infections were reported among its members.
The Ministry of Public Health (MINSAP) has recognized the scale of the problem: over 20,000 cases of chikungunya have been officially recorded. Deputy Minister Carilda Peña García informed on the Canal Caribe that the provinces most affected are HavanaMatanzas, Camagüey, Cienfuegos, Artemisa and Villa Clara, and that 62% of mosquito outbreaks are concentrated in La Habana, Santiago de Cuba, Camagüey and Villa Clara.
Failed fumigations and corruption in the healthcare system
MINSAP announced intensive fumigation and fever detection operations with Medical Sciences students, as well as clinical trials with the drug Jusvinza in Matanzas, intended to alleviate the consequences of chikungunya.
However, the official discourse contrasts with the reality that Cubans experience. In the neighborhoods of Santiago de Cuba, Havana and Villa Clara, residents report irregular disinfestations, informal payments to disinfectors and the absence of basic medications.
The deterioration of the Cuban healthcare system, the lack of essential medicines and corruption in public services have transformed what were once controllable outbreaks into recurring crises, which now also impact national sport, a symbol of pride and propaganda for decades.
A reflection of the collapse
The suspension of games in the National Baseball Series is not just a sports anecdote: it is the mirror of a sick countrywhere public health problems have already reached all spheres, from art to sport.
Pastrana’s phrase —“the health of athletes will always come first”— sounds more like a wish than a reality in a Cuba that, without resources or infrastructure, faces a new epidemic empty-handed and with exhausted credibility.
